Winning The Heart of A Detective
by Random-1985
Summary: AU. What would happen if Castle met Kate through doing research with Lanie. How would he win her heart?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all, here's a little AU story that I came up with. This first chapter is Lanie & Castle however, Beckett will join and it will be mostly Beckett & Castle. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. **

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It was a cool Monday morning when Lanie had received a phone call that shocked and surprised her. Her boss had given her instructions to wait outside the building at 8am for a gentleman named Richard Castle who was coming to study her job as a medical examiner.

Lanie knew exactly who Richard Castle was. He was that murder mystery novelist that so often appeared on page 6 of the paper. Each time with a different woman on his arm. She had to admit he wasn't all that bad to look at, but she had heard a number of stories about him and was worried about having him in her office.

She worked with the NYPD and their homicide department. The last thing she needed was some cocky author getting in the way, preventing her from doing her job and thinking that they knew more than they really did. And that's exactly how she expected Mr Castle was going to be.

A black car pulled up just outside the building, and Lanie guessed it must be the mystery novelist turning up for… work? She wasn't really sure what he would call it, it's not like he was actually getting paid to help her or anything so it couldn't be called work, but then again, he wrote books for a living and he was doing research for these books, so maybe work was the right word.

Richard Castle stepped out of the car, and started making his way to the entrance of the building. Lanie stopped him just before he reached the door. She watched him briefly, taking everything in. He really was quite "yummy" to look at.

"Richard Castle, I'm Lanie Parish. I think you're looking for me?" she said putting her right hand out towards him.

And then he spoke, and "yummy" was no longer the word she would use to describe him.

"Parish, yes they said that someone named Parish would meet me. I just never expected that someone to look like you," he said looking Lanie up and down, wiggling his eyebrows and taking her hand to shake it. "Please, call me Rick," he said with a huge grin.

After a very brief moment shaking hands, Lanie shook her hand free. "I'd rather call you Castle."

"That's also fine by me," he said still grinning.

Right then, Lanie knew this was going to be one of the longest weeks of her life. He hadn't even been there for five minutes and was already using cheesy lines on her. It seemed like all the stories she heard were true.

"C'mon, the dead bodies are this way," Lanie said opening the door and leading the way through the building.

As they made their way through the halls of the building Castle started talking again. "So, what is it that makes a woman such as yourself want to work with dead bodies?"

"A woman like me?" Lanie asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I mean, look at you. I could understand if you weren't so easy on the eyes. I'd want to hide myself away and work on my own too if that were me. But you, you don't look like you need to do that at all."

"Ok, let's get one thing straight right here," Lanie said turning around and putting her hand up in front of Castle's chest stopping him in his tracks. "You are here for research, you are not here to pick up your next page 6 woman. So you will keep your remarks to yourself, and the only time you speak is if you have a question in regards to my job or the case we are working on. Got it?"

Castle swallowed, this was not how he had expected the morning to start. He had just hoped to have a little bit of fun. Most women liked being told they were good looking, it wasn't often his comments backfired. "Got it," he said.

Lanie grinned to herself, turned her back to Castle and continued to lead them through the hall to where she worked. She currently didn't have a body on the table, so she thought she would get any initial questions Castle had out of the way.

"So, Castle, what research are you expecting to do here? What is it that you want to learn exactly? And how can I help you quickly, so I can get back to my job alone?"

"Look I'm sorry Lanie, can I call you Lanie?" Castle asked a little taken aback by how blunt she was being.

"Yes, I'll allow it"

"I'm sorry, I can be a bit of a jackass sometimes, but I usually get away with it." At this point, he chose to try his big cheesy grin, but by the look on Lanie's face, it wasn't helping him at all. If anything, he was digging himself into a deeper hole. "Can we start again? I promise I wont make any more comments on your looks. Work only from now on."

Lanie glared at him, but upon seeing the sincerity he had on his face, she softened her gaze and held out her hand once more.

"Lanie Parish, Medical Examiner"

Castle smiled and shook her hand. "Richard Castle, novelist"

"I know who you are Castle" Lanie said seriously. "Now can we get to work?"

"Yes. I'd love to."

Lanie made her way over to a desk that sat in the corner of the room and sat down in the chair.

"So, Castle, do you really think I'm good looking?" Lanie asked. She was not self-conscious or unsure of her looks, she was just testing Castle to see if he had learnt his lesson yet.

"Um…" Castle had no idea how to respond. He was confused. One minute he was told not to talk about anything that was not related to the job, and now here Lanie was asking him to comment on her looks. He didn't know if he should stand back where he was or go take a seat with her at the desk, he was completely perplexed.

"Well…" Lanie said, waiting for a response and really enjoying the look that Castle had on his face. He really had no idea how to respond. Her plan had worked. He knew she was in charge.

"I…" Castle still struggled to get a sentence out. "I… yes… no… am I… trouble?"

"Well well, Writer-boy doesn't seem to be able to construct a sentence right now."

"It's just, you said I could only speak when it had to do with a case, and I didn't want to blow it again. So, how am I supposed to respond?"

"Like that. Thank you Castle. That's lesson one. Here, I am in charge and you will do as I say."

"Right."

"Let's get started then. I guess you are doing research for a new book. So, tell me, have you written the death yet, or are you doing research and then writing it?" Lanie asked, making herself more comfortable in her seat.

"Well, at this stage…"

Castle was interrupted before he could finish his answer by the phone on Lanie's desk ringing.

"Sorry, must get this," Lanie said picking up the phone.

Lanie took the phone call and while she was talking took some notes on a pad of paper. After about thirty seconds, she hung up and looked up at Castle.

"Well, we have a body to get to. We will be going to a crime scene, you are not to touch a single thing, the last thing we need is for you to put fingerprints all over the evidence. When we get there, you remain silent and stay out of the way of the NYPD."

"No problem. Stay silent and out of the way. Got it." Castle repeated with a nod of his head, and picking up a tool that had caught his eye on the desk.

"And don't touch anything," Lanie said again eyeing what Castle had just picked up in his hands and then she picked up her keys and grabbed a bag which Castle guessed was filled with evidence bags, gloves and all the instruments required at the crime scene.

Castle dropped what he had found back on the desk. "Right, yep. Don't touch I can do."

Lanie looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"I promise. I will behave."

With everything gathered and instructions given to Castle, it was time to get going.

"C'mon then Castle, let's go."

"Oooooh goody, we're going to a real live crime scene," Castle said clapping his hands.

"Dead body Castle. This isn't exciting."

Castle stopped clapping and shoved his hands in his pockets feeling slightly ashamed of the excitement he had shown. He was excited to be going to his first crime scene but Lanie was right, a dead body meant somebody had just lost a friend, a family member, a lover, this was not a time to be excited.

Making their way out to the van, Castle stayed silent repeating his instructions to himself. "Be silent, stay out of the way, don't touch anything, be silent, stay out of the way, don't touch anything, be silent, stay out of the way, don't touch anything," he repeated over and over in his head.

As they stepped into the van Castle turned to Lanie, "so is there anything I need to know about working the crime scene or working with the cops."

"Yes… the cops have a job to do and if you get in their way, they wont be as quick to give you a second chance as I was. When we get there, I need to find out all I can before we move the body and give that information Detective Beckett and the team. Once we've got all we can from the scene, we bring the body back here."

"Right, and Detective Beckett… he's a good cop is he? He knows what he's doing?" Castle asked curiously.

Lanie smiled at the question, she wasn't going to tell Castle Detective Beckett was a she. This was going to be fun. Detective Beckett was another woman in the team he was going to have to take orders from. She looked over at him as he waited for the answer. "Sure… yes… he knows what he's doing."

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**Well that's it for chapter one. Tell me what you think... :) I'll try and update daily. **


	2. Chapter 2

**WOW! Can I just say the response to this story has been overwhelming. Thanks to everyone who has followed, reviewed and favourited. You guys are amazing! The pressures on now to make this good. I hope I don't let anyone down :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or it's characters... but they are awesome :)**

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Castle and Lanie were the first to arrive at the crime scene, other than two uniforms who had taped off the crime scene. Once there, Lanie was all about the job. She pulled out her bag and walked straight over to the body and crouched down beside it to see what she could find.

After the rocky start to the morning, Castle was trying to be on his best behaviour, remembering the instructions he was given to stay out of the way. He quietly took a few steps closer to the body when Lanie spoke up.

"That's close enough Castle," she said without even looking up.

"What..? How did…? Huh…?" He didn't even know how Lanie knew he was creeping a little bit closer.

"I'm just that good," she said knowing exactly what he was thinking.

Castle decided to stay still and do as he was told but, he really was not able to see much from where he was standing.

"Seriously?" he thought to himself. "I'm supposed to be doing research. I can't see anything, I'm not even being helpful."

Right at that moment, he saw a lone young woman making her way towards them. It seemed she made it through without the uniforms noticing her. It was his moment to shine, to show Lanie that he could be helpful, even if it wasn't with studying the dead body.

He started making his way across to the young woman who was still making her way over.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This is a crime scene. Only cops allowed past this point."

"I am the cops," the woman said to him sternly, as she pulled out her badge. "Detective Beckett, NYPD"

She walked straight past him without so much as a second look. Castle was astounded, he did not expect that. He turned and watched her walk away with his mouth wide open.

"Sorry," he called after her feeling somewhat stupid. Detective Beckett was in charge and he just got in her way, one of the things Lanie had told him not to do.

"Kate… over here," Lanie called out to the detective.

Castle watched the two women for a moment. So, Detective Beckett is a female detective. She was definitely not what he was expecting. He expected an older looking buff guy. He imagined him to be a little scary looking but, Detective Beckett, she was… well, she was stunning, the seriousness in her face was somewhat scary but other than that she was gorgeous. In the brief moment they had spent together, literally, it was less than ten seconds, he had found himself mesmorized. Now he had even more reason to behave himself. If he could continue working with Lanie, then he'd get to see more of this Detective, and he wouldn't mind that one bit.

Over at the body, Kate squatted down next to Lanie. "Who is that guy? A new intern or something?" she asked her friend.

"Something like that," Lanie responded, rolling her eyes. "Actually, I thought you of all people would recognise him."

"Nope, who is he?"

"Take another look." Lanie looked towards Castle and nodded her head to show Kate that she was serious about taking another look.

Kate turned to look towards Castle and frowned with slight confusion. She had a feeling she had seen his face before but she couldn't quite figure it out… and then it hit her.

She looked back at Lanie, eyes wide. "No way! It can't be, tell me it's not him."

"Oh it's him alright" Lanie responded slowly nodding.

"No, you're pulling my leg."

"I'm really not. It's him. He's doing research apparently."

"Really? Richard freakin' Castle? Seriously?"

At that point they heard someone clearing their throat behind them. Castle had made his way over to them. It seemed Lanie was busy focusing on the conversation with Kate that she hadn't noticed Castle's movement.

Castle extended his hand towards the detective. "Richard Castle, at your service. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself before, somebody…" he said giving a short glare and nod towards Beckett, "was in a rush to get to the body."

"There's a murderer out there, I'm not going to take my time," Beckett replied.

Castle stood there looking at his extended hand, then towards Beckett and back at his hand, signaling to her that he was waiting for her to shake his hand.

Detective Beckett let out a huff, removed one glove and shook his hand. A part of her was actually quite excited about them meeting like this, but she was not going to let him know that just yet.

"I would say it's a pleasure," she said shaking his hand. "But so far, all you're doing is preventing me from doing my job."

Castle let go of her hand. "Sorry." He turned to look at the medical examiner. "Lanie, Can I do anything to help?"

The detective spoke up again before Lanie had a chance to answer. "Go stand over there and stay out of the way," she said pointing to a far wall.

"Oh, but Detective Beckett, I could be very useful."

"Castle. Go now!"

"Okay," he said as he started walking away from them dragging his feet and hanging his head. This was not how he expected the morning to go at all.

Once Castle had moved far enough away from the body, Kate turned back to Lanie. "Ok, spill. What is he doing here?"

"Well, I got a call from the big boss and was told that he needed to do research for his books. He wanted to make sure he had all the facts about death and the autopsy right, to make sure they were realistic. I'm not sure why they decided to stick him with me. I'm sure Perlmutter would have been a much more suitable choice."

"Perlmutter?" asked Kate. "He doesn't strike me as much of a people person. I don't know he would do well sharing his job with someone doing research."

"So I was their only option?"

"Hmmm… well no, maybe they just wanted to put him with the best. And that of course, would be you Lanie," the detective said smiling. "Now, tell me, what do we know about our victim here?"

"Ok, the name is Luke Dawes, 32, He's got three gun shot wounds, one to the back of each leg which appear to be long distance, and then one close range shot to the head which took his life. Still had his wallet and ID on him, so it's not a robbery."

"Right, so it looks like the two shots to his legs slowed him down and made him fall, then the shot to the head was to end whatever was going on. Thanks Lanie, anything else?"

Lanie and Kate continue to discuss the body for a few minutes more discussing what had been discovered.

By the time Lanie had explained everything to the detective, Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito had arrived at the scene. Ryan and Esposito were also detectives on Beckett's team. When Kate saw them, she excused herself from the conversation she was having with Lanie, knowing there was nothing further to learn from the body at that point and she made her way over to the boys.

Lanie decided once Kate had gone that she would allow Castle to get a closer look. He had been very well behaved since Kate had sent him over to the far side of the crime scene.

"Castle," she called out to him, and waved him over.

As soon as Castle heard his name, he did a little bit of a skip and almost ran over to the body, he was maybe still a little bit too excited at a murder scene, but right now, he didn't care.

"I thought you might like to hear what we've figured out so far before we have to take the body to the morgue. There are a number of things we can learn about a body, but we can learn a lot more back at the morgue," said Lanie and continued to tell Castle everything she had learnt so far.

Detective Beckett was talking to the boys when movement in the corner of her eye had distracted her. Castle was making his way over to the medical examiner, and he actually looked like he had a bit of a skip in his step. He was excited. She had stopped talking mid sentence without even realising, while she watched the writer.

"Um… Beckett?" Ryan asked. "You said you had a job for us, but you haven't told us what it is."

"Oh yeah, sorry," Beckett said snapping her head away from the writer and medical examiner. She told the boys to canvas the area and look for any possible witnesses and then meet her back at the precinct with their findings.

"So, who's the guy with Lanie?" Esposito asked.

"Why? Are you jealous?" Beckett teased.

"No, no, of course not. Me jealous? Ha!" he replied nervously. "Just curious. Who is he?"

"That would be Richard Castle."

"The Richard Castle?" Ryan said jumping back into the conversation.

"Yes, and don't get too excited. He's doing research for his books with Lanie. Hopefully, we wont have to deal with him too much. He's already proven himself to be a pain."

"Beckett, don't you have every single one of his books?"

"Maybe," she said a little too unconvincingly.

"Well, don't you want to get to work with him some more?" Ryan continued.

"As I said, he's a pain. He'll just get in the way. So, basically, no. And if either of you mention to him that I am a f… that I have his books, then watch out," she said giving them her best glare. She had almost said fan, but stopped herself. She knew she would be classed as a fan, but to say it made her feel like she was a 12 year old following a pop star, and she was definitely not that. She was a professional, an NYPD detective, who just happened to like reading mystery crime novels in her spare time.

"Right, well we better get going, we've got witnesses to find," Ryan said suddenly smiling.

"Yeah, we'll see you back at the precinct Beckett." Esposito said as they turned and made their way across the street.

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**And that's it for chapter 2. More to come tomorrow :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I just have to say again you guys are amazing. Thanks for all the reviews and encouragement. I love it! I also love chocolate, so feel free to send some of that my way :) **

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Castle or the characters**

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A few hours later Lanie and Castle were back in the morgue where Lanie had completed the autopsy and was sewing the last of the skin back together.

"That wasn't too gross for you was it Castle?" she asked.

"Not at all, I write murder mysteries for a living. That was nothing compared to some of the scenes I picture in my head. Although, I have to admit, seeing you with your hands in a dead guy, that was kind of disgusting."

"It's all part of the job."

With the last stitch in place Castle helped Lanie clear away the instruments and helped her cover the body where it would wait until Detective Beckett arrived for information. They expected her to arrive soon.

"So, now that we've done that, do you have any questions about anything?" Lanie asked, ready to answer whatever Castle deemed necessary to know.

Castle thought about it for a brief moment.

"Actually, yes," he said. "That Detective Beckett. I saw you two talking. You looked like good friends. Yes?"

"Castle, that has nothing to do with the job."

"Well you said anything. This is anything."

Lanie sighed. He was right, she didn't specify work related questions only.

"And besides," he continued. "It is job related because Detective Beckett is working on our case."

"But my friendship with Detective Beckett does not concern you Mr Castle."

"No, but, what's the harm in knowing whether you are friends right?"

She looked at him and could see that he wasn't going to simply give up. "Yes, Castle," she answered just to shut him up. "Detective Beckett and I are friends."

"So you go out often? When you're not working I mean?"

"We're friends, yes we go out occasionally. Most of the time it's just drinks after a case, but again, this is really none of your business."

"But… I'm just curious about every aspect of a medical examiners life. It's no point me knowing everything about the job but not being able to write about them outside the job. I need substance for my books, not just boring medical jargon."

"Excuse me," Lanie said wide eyes and glaring at Castle. "Boring? If you think my job is boring, you can leave at any time. It's not like we're paying you to be here."

"Oh no, no. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant for the readers. If there's no story outside the crime then, they get a little bored. Surely you know what I mean. Imagine living your life with only work, nothing outside work, it would be boring. So it's good to know that you have a life away from this."

Lanie sighed heavily. "Ok, you talked your way out of that one."

"Good! I really thought you were going to kick me out," Castle said looking relieved.

The medical examiner shook her head at the writer in disbelief. He had definitely improved since their morning conversation, and had stopped making his unwarranted comments, but he was still annoying as ever.

"So… you and Detective Beckett go out a lot then? Do you double date with your husbands or boyfriends?"

It was only now that Lanie realised what Castle was up to. He was interested in her detective friend and was fishing for information.

"No, that's enough! I am not answering any more questions about mine or Beckett's personal life. I thought you were here to learn about the job for your books, not to find your next catch of the day," she said getting slightly angry.

She knew the reputation Castle had, and she knew Kate was a fan. But if she allowed anything to happen between the two of them, Kate would be the one to get hurt and she couldn't have that.

"Sorry?" Castle said, taken aback. "I'm not looking to make anyone my catch of the day. I was just…"

Before either of the pair noticed, someone had walked up behind them.

"What's the catch of the day?" Detective Beckett interrupted, looking at Lanie.

Lanie just glared at Castle, which he understood was Lanie's way of telling him not to say what they were talking about.

"Oh, we were just talking about fishing," Castle said.

"Really? I haven't been in a while. I remember going fishing a few times with my dad. It was so relaxing and calm out there on the boat. Even if we didn't bring anything back with us, we still just enjoyed the cool breeze and the sun shining down on us. We'd go out and not come back for hours."

She's not quite sure why she shared so much in front of a guy she hardly knew, but there was something about him that made her feel comfortable, when she ignored the annoying factor.

"Do you still go? You and your dad?" Castle asked.

"Occasionally, not as often now. Being a detective can take up a lot of time and I don't always know when I'm going to be free. I try and go when I can."

"That's a shame. How bout your mum? Does she go too? Or is she more of the stay at home type?"

As soon as he'd said it, Castle noticed the change in the detectives face. He had said something he shouldn't have. Beckett looked down at the ground and started fiddling with her fingers. There was something more to the story of her mother. He pushed it aside in his head, he didn't want to push for any information just yet, she barely knew him and there's only so much an almost stranger will share.

Lanie knew that talking about Beckett's mother was not something they should be doing. Beckett's mother was murdered when she was younger, and the case was never solved. It wasn't a story that Kate shared with everyone and Lanie knew the mention of her would bring back a number of memories. She had to step in before Kate got lost too far into those memories. "So, Kate, are you here for the information we've gathered on the victim?"

Kate stopped playing with her fingers and looked up at Lanie, the focus coming back into her eyes. "Yes, what do you have for me?"

Lanie walked over to the table where the body lay and uncovered the top half of the victim.

"His wrists have been broken and by the bruises I can see it appears he may have been cuffed for some time before he was murdered. I also noticed he has these tiny round burn marks all the way up his arms. I'm not sure exactly what caused them, but they do look like they would have been quite painful, some of these have blistered and look worse than others. He may have been tortured for information of some kind. A number of his fingers have also been broken and well there is some obvious bruising on his face looking like it came into contact with someone's fist a number of times."

"I wonder what this guy was into," Beckett said.

"Drugs… it's always drugs," Castle interrupted.

"No actually, it's not always drugs," Beckett said back to Castle and then turned to look directly at Lanie. "Please tell me it's not drugs."

"Well, there does not appear to be any in his system," she responded smiling.

"But we can't rule it out completely." Kate said, knowing that there were other ways for drugs to be involved in the case even without any trace in his system.

"Drug dealer!" Castle called out.

For a moment before they started talking about the case, Castle had seemed almost normal, but Kate realised it didn't take long for his normal to turn into annoying again. She was very good at her job, she was focused and she when it came to a case, she didn't appreciate people rushing to conclusions. When they did that it often lead them down the wrong track. Since they had started talking about the case, Castle had only gone to prove that he was one that did exactly that. He rushed to conclusions.

"Castle, go… over there" Beckett said pointing once again to a far wall. "Or even better, go see if you can find Ryan and Esposito, they were just behind me a minute ago, they must have seen something and got distracted."

Castle smiled, glad to have been given a job to do, even if it was just to fetch the two lost or distracted detectives.

"I don't know how you've lasted this long with him here Lanie. You have more patience than I thought."

"Oh, he's really not that bad." Kate gave her a look that told her she was not convinced and Lanie changed her mind. "Ok, right, so he's kind of annoying, but in an entertaining way."

Just then Castle returned with the boys. "I found them."

"That was quick."

"We were just coming when Castle walked out the door," Ryan responded.

"Right well, we've got a case to solve. Ryan, Esposito, meet you back at the precinct."

Castle watched as the three detectives made their way out of the room.

"Did she really just send me to get them so she could get me out of here?" he asked Lanie and she nodded.

"C'mon, lets get this body put away in cool storage."

As they covered the body Castle felt the need to return to the conversation they were having earlier.

"Lanie, I just want you to know. The tabloids make me out to be this guy, that sometimes even I don't like, the guy that goes and looks for a catch of the day. And yes, I'll admit, I can be an ass and the tabloids can be right but not always. I've been married twice, and they failed so I guess I gave up. The guy that the world sees now is just a mask covering the guy that I used to be and could be again if the right woman came along. I'm always told a page 6 story is better than no story at all."

Lanie looked at Castle with curiousity. He looked completely genuine and sincere, she believed everything he had said. She chose not to respond with words but with a simple smile and slight nod of the head to tell him she understood. She knew what he was trying to say. He was a good guy, and she could sense that there was a lot more to him that he wasn't saying, but for now that was enough.

Castle spoke up again after a moment. "I am sorry about my comments this morning. I need to treat this as a professional workplace, so from now on, that's what it is. No more inappropriate comments or questions about your personal life."

"Or Detective Beckett's," Lanie added.

"Or Detective Beckett's," Castle repeated in agreeance.

Lanie told Castle they were just about finished for the day so he could go home while she just entered her last few notes into the computer.

She watched as he left the room trying to figure out this man in her head. Today was confusing. When it started he seemed arrogant and rude, when at the crime scene he seemed like he had wanted to behave and he tried his best. He had shown lots of interest in the whole process of the autopsy, then he turned into this annoying questioning man who wanted to know about their personal lives. There was no hiding the fact that he had taken a fancy to Kate and at the beginning of the day, even towards the end of the day, there was no way Lanie was going to allow anything to happen between them, but just in those last few minutes, she got a glimpse of a man who was almost lost in his own life. It was almost like the fame had hidden away the real man inside and maybe he wasn't so bad after all. Kate was the type of person who could bring that person out, she had a way with people that allowed them to be themselves however, it was like she couldn't even stand to be in the room with him for more than 5 minutes. She was so focused on the job it wasn't often she allowed herself to have fun. Maybe Castle could be the person that would help her have some fun. They were complete opposites, but would be good for one another. She wasn't going to try and pair them together, that could be disastrous, but she thought she could at least help them to get to know one another, and they would help each other lose the masks they had on their lives.


	4. Chapter 4

**I wanted to bring in a little Alexis and Martha... so I did :) I don't own these characters either. **

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When Castle arrived home he was greeted at the door by a beautiful red head with a gorgeous smile. She must have heard him with his keys outside the loft and had run to the door to envelop him in one of her hugs just as he stepped inside.

"Alexis. Hi," he said as he wrapped his arms around his daughter and kissed her forehead. "How was your day?"

"Oh, it was great! You know that exam I had been studying for all of last weekend?"

Castle nodded.

"Well, I aced it, 98%. I mean, I know it's not 100%, so it's not a perfect score but it's almost perfect and…"

"Alexis," another older red head interrupted, making her way from out of the kitchen with a glass of wine. "Your father would be lucky if he got any where near 98% in his exams. 98% is more perfect that you could imagine."

"It's true Alexis. Well done, I'm very proud of you. And good evening mother," he said finally stepping further into his loft and placing a kiss on his mother's cheek. "How about you? How was your audition today?" he asked her.

"Oh, at first I didn't think they liked me. I was stunned, I had no idea what I would have done wrong, but they were talking for quite some time after my audition. And well, it turns out they want me to read for a different part tomorrow. They thought I was too flamboyant for the mother role, but there is a crazy aunt they imagine I'd be perfect for. Now I'm not crazy, but I think I can bring a little bit of Martha into the role and I'll have everyone in fits of laughter."

"You've still got it!"

"How about you dad?" Alexis asked. "Your first day working with the medical examiner, was it as gruesome as you imagined it to be? Did you see any real severed heads?"

"No severed heads unfortunately but I do have lots to tell you. First how about we get some dinner, I'm starving."

Right at that moment, the doorbell rang and Rick had absolutely no idea who it could be. He wasn't expecting anyone so he looked from his mother to his daughter, his eyes asking if they were expecting anyone.

"That'll probably be the pizza," Alexis said and pulled her fathers wallet out of his back pocket. "I figured you'd be hungry when you got home, so I ordered when you texted me to let me know you were on your way," she said making her way to the door and pulling out the money for the pizza along with a very generous tip.

"Ah, you know me too well," he said smiling.

Alexis paid for the pizza and carried it over to the table where Castle was clearing space. Martha had gone back into the kitchen to gather plates and glasses and the bottle of wine she had opened for herself. She then placed it all at the table and sat down to enjoy dinner with her family.

"So, tell us about your day then." Alexis said once they had nearly finished their pizza.

Castle started telling them about Lanie and how she was not the older balding man that he was expecting, and he mentioned how they had got their first case and he was actually allowed at the crime scene.

"Wow Dad! I didn't think they'd let you past the police tape."

"Well, I guess Lanie could sense that I was going to be useful."

"And were you?" asked his mother.

"Well I could have been, and I had every intention on being useful, but then the detective in charge came along. Detective Beckett, she made me stand as far away as possible."

"What did you do to make her send you away?" Alexis asked. She knew her father too well, and knowing him he probably needed to be sent away. She thought he'd contaminated the crime scene somehow.

"Nothing. Honestly, I didn't do anything," he said trying to look as innocent as possible.

Neither Alexis or Martha were buying it and gave him a disbelieving look.

"Oh, come on Richard, you must have done something."

"Fine. I had been given three instructions, be silent, don't touch anything and stay out of the way. It seems I may have only remembered one of those instructions when we got there. I wasn't silent and I got in the way and told Detective Beckett she wasn't allowed in because it was a crime scene."

"Daaaaad!" Alexis said rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"What? I didn't know she was the detective. I was trying to be helpful. Again, she was nothing like I expected. So I saw her walking towards the body and I thought that some random woman had managed to get past the cops and was trying to take a short cut, so I was just telling her she had to go around. It's not my fault she didn't look like a detective."

"And how is a detective supposed to look?"

"Well, not like Detective Beckett. She wore these tight jeans and a leather jacket, she looked like... just wow. And she had these heels, they must have been at least 4 inches. How she works in those I don't know. But she was not the detective I expected at all. We need more detectives that look like that. But looks aside, she seems to be very good at her job, very professional, impressive really."

Rick let his thoughts wander off as he pictured the way the detective had looked that morning. She was definitely the best looking cop he had seen, he wished that when he had been arrested years before that she had been the one to arrest him. He wouldn't have minded being interrogated by Detective Beckett, not one bit at all, he'd even attempt to get arrested again in the hopes that she'd be the arresting officer.

Alexis and Martha had stopped asking Castle questions when they saw that his mind had wandered. It did this sometimes, he would often get lost deep in thought about a story he was writing. But this was different. He had a different look and both Alexis and Martha could tell why. He'd only been talking about this detective for a brief few minutes, but it didn't take long to see that he had taken a liking to her. They gave each other a knowing look and then decided to start clearing up from their dinner.

Once everything was cleared Alexis went and sat on the sofa in front of the television with her dad while Martha sat in the corner, pretending to read a script for her audition the next day, but she was actually listening to the conversation between her son and granddaughter.

"So dad, you didn't tell me what happened after the crime scene? Did you solve a case on your first day?"

"No, the NYPD are still following up leads but as a medical examiner we help by finding evidence on the body and looking into what killed them. It's the detectives that do most of the hard work and all the questioning of witnesses and suspects and add all the bits and pieces together. I'd love to see Detective Beckett in the interrogation room. She's kinda feisty and very focused, and you just know she knows what she's doing just by looking at her. She's one of the best detectives of the NYPD. I'd even say she IS the best. She came into the morgue once Lanie and I had finished the autopsy, but she kind of kicked me out of the room again."

"Really? What did you do that time?"

"I'm not sure exactly. We were having a good conversation, talking about fishing. She was talking about how she used to go with her dad, and then I asked about her mum and she went quiet. Then when we got to the case, she kicked me out."

"Did you say anything else," Alexis asked, knowing there must have been more to the story.

"Well, maybe I did try and help with my own ideas about what our victim could be into. Maybe that's not a good idea on a first day, but I just wanted to be helpful, to show Beckett that I did have some idea about crime and murderers. It just kinda backfired."

"Dad, you're not there to impress Beckett, you're there to learn from Lanie."

"For now, that's what I'm there for," Castle muttered. "Well, I've got to shower and get some writing done before I go to bed."

He kissed his daughter on the forehead, said goodnight to his mother and made his way to his bathroom.

Once he had showered he went back into the office as he wanted to rewrite part of a scene, now that he had been at a real live crime scene. When he got into the office, his mother was sitting at his desk waiting for him.

"Mother? What are you doing in here?"

"Richard, Please tell me that you're not going to go around chasing this Detective Beckett."

"Of course not, why would you think that?"

"I'm your mother, I know how to read you. And when you mentioned her, you got this look in your eye. I've seen that look before. It's the look you get when you want something and are determined to go after it. I know you almost always get your way but…."

Castle raised an eyebrow at his mother which stopped her talking. "You know I don't _always_ get my own way. How many times do I have to change things to suit Paula or Gina." Paula and Gina were his publicist and publisher and it was because of them that he had ended up with the playboy image that he had.

"Well… when it comes to women, you almost always get your way but that's because they don't see you, they see the image of you. Has this Detective shown any interest at all Richard?"

"Not exactly, I'm not sure she is fully aware of who I am."

"Well, that's a good thing. You need that in your life, someone a little more down to earth. Please, just go along and do your research and behave yourself. And Richard, if you really do like this woman, be yourself, not that page 6 man that the rest of the world sees. Let her see the real you because he is a much better man."

Martha then turned and left her son to do his writing.

Castle sat down in his chair at the desk thinking about what his mother had just said. It wasn't often she spoke to him about these things, she often just left him alone. He had known the detective for one day, he had barely spoken to her, what was it that gave his mother the impression that he was interested in her? He may have mentioned her a few times over dinner, but they had asked about his day. He was simply telling them about it. And Detective Beckett was a part of his day, so it only made sense that she would come up during the conversation. He had not said anything about liking her, had he? His mother was right though, he believed there was something different about Beckett and he wanted to get to know her more, and if he acted like he did around other women, she was sure to shut him out completely. She'd probably refuse to work with him. He decided he would let her see the real him, the gentle, kind-hearted man. And he would start by taking her a coffee in the morning. Everyone loves coffee.

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**I had to involve coffee in the story somehow... it just wouldn't be right without it. We'll see how his coffee plans work out tomorrow :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks again for the reviews and the amazingness of you all, and welcome to any new followers. Every time I look at my email I have more... it's crazy! **  
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**Disclaimer: Once again, I still don't own Castle or characters from the show.  
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Castle walked into the morgue the next morning with a tray containing three coffees. Lanie had been there for an hour already but she had told Castle not to come in until later.

"Good morning Lanie," he said as he handed over her coffee.

"Morning Castle. What's this?" she said taking the coffee.

"I was getting a coffee for myself, I thought you might like one too. Consider it a thank you for putting up with me yesterday."

"I don't actually drink coffee but, thanks." She placed the cup back down again. "And the third coffee Castle?" Lanie questioned raising an eyebrow. "Did you have a late night so now you're in need of a caffeine fix to get through the day?"

"No, I was hoping Detective Beckett would be here, I got this one for her."

Lanie shook her head, "sorry, she's not."

"Is she coming in? I thought she'd be coming for more news on the case."

"We have no more news to tell her that we can't simply tell her over the phone."

"Oh, the phone, right." Castle thought for a moment. "Well, do you ever go visit her and give her the information in person?"

"No"

"Want to make an exception?" Castle grinned guiltily knowing that Lanie had obviously picked up on his slight obsession with the detective.

"No Castle!" Lanie said sternly.

Castle pouted, sticking his bottom lip out and giving Lanie the best puppy dog eyes she had ever seen. That was all she needed to give in, she couldn't deal with having to look at his sad eyes.

"Fine. Kate is going to kill me, but I'll call her and tell her to come down for the new information. She's not going to be happy when she finds out all we've got is a whole load of nothing," Lanie said while picking up her phone and dialing the detectives number.

"Don't worry," Castle said, making Lanie look up from her phone. "I'll make it up to her."

Lanie gave Castle a look that could only be read as her asking him how he was going to make it up to her.

"With coffee," Rick said with a big smile and lifting his coffee to his lips to take a sip.

The medical examiner shook her head and looked back down to her phone to make the call. She couldn't believe she gave in to him so easily, but she wanted Beckett to get to know Castle more. She hoped she would see the good in his actions of the morning, although she couldn't be completely sure she would. There was just no way for Kate to get to know Castle if they never got to actually work together.

About ten minutes later, Detective Beckett arrived at the morgue. Rick stood in the corner and couldn't help but watch her as she walked across the office to Lanie at her desk. Once again, she looked stunning, he couldn't imagine she would look anything less than stunning. He noticed that she was wearing heels again, and decided that it must make her feel that little bit taller, and gives her that extra power over suspects. It wasn't like she was short, but he could understand the need to feel more powerful in her job.

"So Lanie? You've got new information to show me?" Beckett asked as she reached the desk.

"Yes, we've done some tests on the burnt skin, there were traces of nicotine among other things, so it looks like they were done with cigarettes. We've got the lab trying to narrow it down to what type of cigarette. I'm not sure if it will be much help, but it may be." Lanie handed the detective a piece of paper which confirmed what she had just said.

Beckett looked at the paper then back at Lanie. "That's it? You could have given me this information over the phone. Why did you tell me to come down here?"

"Um… that was my doing," Castle said stepping forward. "I asked Lanie to ask you to come down here bec…"

"Castle! Why is it that you just want to get in my way and prevent me from doing my job?" Beckett interrupted, getting angry.

"I'm going to leave you two alone for a minute," Lanie said quickly leaving the room. She knew how Beckett could be when she got angry and although she was partly to blame, she did not want to get caught up in this. She was also interested to see how Castle dealt with the situation.

"Castle?" Beckett said glaring at him, waiting for answers.

"I bought you coffee. I wanted to say sorry for yesterday for getting in the way but it seems I didn't think that through very well, and I'm just getting in the way again aren't I?."

Castle pulled the last coffee from the holder and carefully held it out towards Beckett. He was a little scared that she was going to take it and pour it over his head, he could see the anger in her eyes. When the coffee was in front of her, he watched as the anger disappeared and her look softened.

There was something about the look in his eyes that told her that he really was sorry and she saw a different man. Someone who wasn't as infuriating as she had thought. She began to appreciate the effort he had gone to and the fact that he had even thought of her was kind of sweet. She couldn't stay angry at him.

She reached out and took the coffee from his hands. "Thank you Castle, that was very thoughtful. Just don't do it again!" she said as she took a sip from her cup and smiled after she swallowed the warm liquid. She had to admit, it was a really good coffee, much better than the stuff they have at the precinct.

Castle was surprised she had stayed after taking the coffee he offered her. He expected that she would leave immediately, but since she was still there, he thought he'd see if she had any information on the case that she would share with him.

"So," Castle began, "have you found much out about the victim?"

"Not at this stage," Kate said after taking another sip of her coffee. "We've contacted the family and have spoken to his sister, but came up with nothing. We have no idea what he was into."

"Have you ever seen something like this before?" Castle asked. "I mean, cigarette burns all the way up the arms, it seems a little strange if you plan on killing him. Why not just get it over with?"

"People do some crazy things to get information out of people. Going straight for the kill is not going to help them get that information, so they use torture, and then kill once they have all they need. C'mon Castle, don't you write murder mysteries for a living, you should know this."

The truth was Castle did know, he just wanted to keep the conversation going and would ask anything for it to continue.

"So you read my books?" he asked smiling, thinking that he had just discovered something about her she didn't wish to share.

"I didn't say I read your books Mr Castle," she said and watched as the smiled dropped from his face. "I just know that you write murder mysteries. Personally, I deal with real murder every day, I don't need fake murder when I get home as well."

Beckett actually did read Castle's books. She had, in fact, read all of them, but he was the last person she would want to find out. She was quite the Castle fan, had even subscribed on his website, but she knew that if he was to be made aware of that, he would only make fun of her, or put her in that category of crazy fan girls, and she was not one of them.

When Lanie returned to the room moments later she was surprised to see both Kate and Castle smiling and enjoying a conversation together. It was strange because she had never known anyone to change Kate's mood so quickly.

Castle and Beckett had stopped talking about his books and were thinking about the case again.

"So, if you catch the killer today, do we get drinks to celebrate?"

Kate noticed Lanie had come back in the room, "well Lanie, me and the boys do, but you Castle, you go home."

Castles eyes grew wide. "That's not fair. Lanie, tell her that's not fair."

Lanie simply shrugged.

"You know what's not fair Castle," Kate said. "We have a victim, who has been murdered, and once again, you appear to be keeping me from doing my job and finding the person who did this."

She waved goodbye to Lanie and made her way to the door only turning around just before exiting. She realised she should probably be a little nicer to the writer. She had been a little harsh with him. "Thanks for the coffee," she said lifting the cup in her hand and giving him a smile before turning and walking out.

Castle could not decide what that smile was about. It almost seems flirtatious but it couldn't have been. He decided it was most likely just a thank you smile, and decided to think nothing more of it. The image of her smiling at him though, was like a photograph glued in his mind though. He didn't think he would ever forget that beautiful smile. He had to find a way of getting invited to their celebratory drinks, just so he could see that smiling face again.

"C'mon Lanie," he said. "You'd let me join you for drinks. I'm being helpful."

"If by helpful you mean making me call in detectives for no reason and holding up any further examinations then yes, you have been very helpful."

"But I bought coffee," Castle said pouting again.

"And I don't drink coffee… but I guess you were trying to help. Although coffee is still not necessary to help with the case."

"True," Castle nodded. "But can I join you anyway?"

"If we get the case solved then yes, I will allow you to come to drinks with us."

Castle couldn't help himself and he fist pumped the air.

"But, if you continue to behave like that, I may have to change my mind." Lanie said after seeing Castles' childlike actions.

Castle stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Got it."

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**I made some edits... and then lost it :( So I had to do it again, I hope I got them all the second time around!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I thought we should see some more of Beckett so here it is. **

**Disclaimer: Still not owned by me**

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Kate returned back to work as quickly as possible. Although she had received new information on her trip to the morgue, it was nothing that she couldn't have been told via a phone call and so, something that should have taken two minutes took much longer. She had hoped that upon her return, Ryan and Esposito would have found some more information.

She walked to her desk and removed her jacket as the boys came out of the break room with a coffee each.

"What did Lanie have for you?" Esposito called out as they made their way over to her desk.

"Practically nothing. The burns on the arms were made by a cigarette as we expected."

"And…?" Ryan was expecting there was a lot more to it.

Beckett shrugged. That's it. That's all she had.

"So, why did you have to go to the morgue?" Esposito asked confused.

"Well it seems Castle, bought me a coffee and he somehow managed to talk Lanie into calling me down there."

"Coffee? So, they called you to the morgue, to give you coffee?"

"Yes"

"Hey, why didn't he get us any?" Esposito said looking at his partner, suddenly feeling a little left out and offended.

"I don't know Espo," Detective Beckett responded. "He said it was his way of apologizing for getting in the way yesterday and I guess he felt like he got in my way more than anyone else's. Seriously, the guy is kind of a nut case," she said rolling her eyes.

There was a slight smile that she was trying to hide, but she hadn't hidden it enough for the boys not to notice. Esposito picked up on it straight away and could sense that Detective Beckett was actually beginning to like the writer, despite his annoying tendencies.

"A nut case that you were such a fan of that you waited hours in line just to have him sign one of your books."

"That was ages ago. I'm too busy to do that now."

"But you'll still buy his books?" Ryan asked.

"Maybe. I mean, he's still a great writer, I still enjoy reading his books." She really did enjoy his books. It didn't matter how irritating she may have found him, it wouldn't change the fact that he really did know how to write a good crime novel.

Beckett was feeling slightly confused by the boys questions. She wasn't sure what they were up to. It was almost as if they were trying to get her to let out some information, but she wasn't sure what it was they were waiting for.

"Does he know you have read his books?" Esposito asked.

"I think he was trying to suss that out for himself today, but I didn't tell him that I had them all. And neither will you two!" she said while giving them a glare that said 'I'm serious!'

Esposito took in the glare and nodded then continued his questioning. "So, you guys chatted for a while then? Even though he is continually gets in your way?"

"Yes, Esposito. Look, are you going to just stand there and continue to question me about the writer, or are we going to get to work."

"Sorry, yes, work." Ryan said, and both him and Esposito went back to their desks.

There was a moment of silence while Esposito just watched Beckett as she sat down and stared at something on her computer. He wasn't stupid though, he knew she actually looking at anything. She was deep in thought.

The questions the boys had asked Kate did make her stop and think about the morning. She had accepted a coffee from the writer, and she had stayed to talk to him, even joked with him, and she had teased him. She didn't realise it at the time, but she had definitely been flirting a little. She really hoped that Castle had not noticed or that he ignored it. He may have been funny, and he made her smile, but he was not the type of guy that she would usually be interested in and she was not going to allow herself to become interested in such a man.

"So, how was the coffee Beckett?" Esposito asked, snapping Beckett out of her thoughts.

"Really Espo? You've got nothing better to talk about?"

Esposito shrugged.

"It was fine. It was actually really good, much better than the coffee we have here in the break room."

Ryan decided to join in the conversation once again. "You know Castle likes you, don't you Beckett? Seriously, I saw the way he was watching you yesterday, and then he bought you coffee today. He was obviously hoping to see you. He wanted to see you so much that he even managed to convince Lanie to call you in even though you didn't have to go down there. He likes you. Esposito here," he said raising his eyebrows at his partner, "is trying to get you to say that you like him too."

Kate blushed slightly at the thought of her favourite writer actually liking her. She didn't want the boys to see so she quickly put her head down to look at her keyboard.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you Esposito," she said without looking at him. "I never will admit to liking Castle."

"You may not admit to it, but that doesn't mean that you don't," Esposito teased.

Detective Beckett had no response so she chose to ignore Esposito.

"Ryan, please tell me you've got more information for this case," she said with pleading eyes.

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By the end of the day, Beckett and the boys were no closer to solving the case. They had followed up leads which, in the end, lead them nowhere and they found themselves just going around in circles. She was just about to leave the precinct when her phone rang.

"Beckett," she answered.

A few seconds later, she finished the phone call just as the elevator doors opened and Lanie and Castle were walking out.

"Sorry Beckett," Lanie said. "I just couldn't stop him. He was determined to come over, so I thought I should at least keep an eye on him. Who knows what he'd do if I left him alone."

"Lanie," Beckett said, "You could have given me some warning."

"I just did, we just got off the phone."

"That was not enough warning, there was no time to hide or leave."

"What?" Castle interrupted their chatter. "You didn't want to see me?" he said pouting.

"No. What makes you think I'd want to see you Castle?"

Lanie went and joined the boys at Ryan's desk. They were all interested to see how the conversation was going to go and decided to stay out of the way and just watch the detective and the writer.

"I don't know. I guess I was just hoping you'd be happier to see me than this. But don't worry, we'll work on it. There will come a time when you will realise how awesome it is to have me in your workplace, and you'll want me here all the time."

"I doubt it Castle. I really do." Kate responded with a smile which could almost be described as cheeky.

"Oh, Detective Beckett, you really know how to shut a man down."

"That's not the only thing I know how to do to a man," she said almost in a whisper as she walked past him bumping his shoulder.

Castle's mouth dropped open. He was not expecting that response at all.

Beckett realised that once again, she had started flirting with the writer, and this time it was in front of Lanie, Esposito and Ryan. If she continued this she would never hear the end of it. She had walked past Castle and away from her desk before realising that she actually needed to go back to collect her things.

She turned suddenly looking back at Castle. "Why are you here anyway?" she asked, using this question as an excuse to walk back towards her desk.

"I was wondering if you solved the case yet?"

"No," Beckett sighed. "Today we ran around and around in circles but got no where."

"Oh," Castle said, slightly disappointed. "I was hoping we could go for those drinks."

"I remember telling you that you were not invited Castle." Kate said trying her best to keep a straight and serious face.

"But Lanie said…"

"Oh no no no, you keep me out of this," Lanie cut in, deciding that now was a good time to join the conversation.

Castle thought for a moment. "Well, how about we go for a drink anyway. After running around in circles all day I'm sure you could do with a drink to wind down. My shout."

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other, both knowing what each of them were thinking. Were they included in this? They jumped up from where they were sitting.

"We'll take you up on those drinks Castle," Esposito said.

"Okay, sounds good." Castle said. He had really hoped that Beckett would join them but a drink with the boys would be good too. "You coming Lanie?" he asked.

"Sure, I'll come." Lanie said, knowing that if she said yes, Beckett would most likely join them. "Come on Kate," she said. "Join us for a drink."

Beckett looked at Lanie, and then at the boys, all who looked quite excited. More excited than they usually would for a mid-week drink. Most likely due to the fact that Castle had offered to pay, and they were getting free drinks.

"Okay, I'll come but we have a case to solve tomorrow. So I'm not staying late."

"Let's get going then," Castle said making his way to the elevator. The others gathered their things and went over to join him.

Lanie helped Beckett at her desk quickly and apologized once more. "I'm sorry Beckett, there's just no saying no to him."

"It's okay Lanie. Who knows, it might be good to get to know him outside of work."

Lanie tried her best to hide the excitement at Kate's comment, but inside she was looking forward to the evening. The girls joined the guys at the elevator just as it arrived to take them down.

"So, where are we going?" Kate asked as the doors closed.


	7. Chapter 7

"I haven't been here in ages," Castle said as they entered The Old Haunt. He had almost forgotten about the place but, when Kate had asked where they were going for drinks this was the first place he had thought of.

"The Old Haunt?" Ryan asked. "I've never heard of it."

"No, it's not what you would usually consider a cops bar. It's quiet, hidden away almost. I used to come here to write. I'm pretty sure they have a picture of me on the wall somewhere if you want to see how cute I was when I was younger." The last part he directed at Detective Beckett and wiggled his eyebrows.

She responded with a shake of the head and rolled her eyes at him. "Let me just say Castle, that even if you were cute back then… there's definitely none of that there anymore."

"Wha…?" Castle opened his mouth wide. That wasn't the response he had expected at all.

"You asked for that one Castle," Lanie said.

Castle led them through the bar and made his way to the corner booth. When he got there only the girls had followed him. The boys had stopped and were pointing to something. Beckett being curious, went to see what they were looking at.

"Oh, you're right Castle. You were cute back then," she said with a little giggle. Then suddenly realising that she had not only said that Castle had been cute, but she also giggled. She quickly shut her self up, stood sharply upright and made her way back to the table silently where Lanie and Castle had already taken a seat. Ryan and Esposito weren't far behind her.

"So, what's everybody drinking?" Castle asked.

Once he had a list of what everyone had wanted, he made his way over to the bar and returned not long after with everything. Kate was actually impressed that he had remembered everyone's drinks perfectly. She was sure he would get at least one wrong.

"Wow Castle, I'm surprised you got everyone's drinks right without writing any of it down."

"Attention to detail and remembering them is a necessity in my line of work detective, as I'm sure it is in yours," he said with a wink and a smile. Beckett could have sworn she saw his eyes twinkle a little.

It wasn't long into their conversation that they started talking about the case, trying to figure out what it was that they were missing. What piece of information could they find that would lead them to the killer?

"So, we know that the circular burns were from cigarettes," Castle said. "So it's possible that either the killer or the victim was a smoker. Probably the killer,"

"Lanie should be able to find out about the victim. It's not much but it's a start." Kate said.

The two of them continued back and forth, almost forgetting the others were there.

"For some reason, our guy was being held and tortured…"

"But he managed to get away, which is when the killer came after him…"

"Popping 2 gun shots into the back of his legs which made him fall to the ground…"

"and then one to the front of his head to end it. But why was he captured and tortured in the first place?" Kate questioned.

"Maybe he worked for the CIA and someone wanted some information," Castle said excitedly.

"The CIA Castle? Why the CIA?" Kate said giving him a look that told him it was a stupid idea.

"Because it makes an awesome story."

"Castle, I want truth, not a story!"

"Well, it could be true."

"I highly doubt it."

By this stage Lanie, Ryan and Esposito were whispering to themselves about the couple in front of them taking not of how adorable the two of them were to watch, not even realising that they were finishing each others sentences. They didn't think it would be long before something happened between them. Castle didn't even try his hide his attraction but Beckett, she was doing her best not to show it. If anyone was going to slow anything down, it would be her.

"What information would a guy have that could be so important for someone to have but for him to keep to himself?," Castle continued thoughtfully.

"There's a lot of things, we see it all the time."

"I think we need to dig deeper into his life. Find out what he did for a living, the people who he spent time with, get everything we know about him and dig right down deep. Maybe look into his bank details, maybe they'll show something."

"We've tried digging into his life, and got nothing so far," Kate exclaimed with a sigh.

"There must be something we've missed." Castle said.

"We? Since when did you become a cop?"

"I didn't want to be rude to you. I thought we was the nicer option."

"Fair enough."

Kate had to admit, the thought of him using the word you rather than we would have sounded like he was placing the blame on her. She was a little surprised at his thoughtfulness.

"Well, you know what, the drink was great but I need to get going. I want to get an early start tomorrow. Thanks Castle."

Kate turned to see Lanie, Ryan and Esposito deep in their own conversation. She noisily cleared her throat to interrupt them and then said her good byes.

"Girl, it's still early. You're going already? Why don't you stay for another drink?" Lanie asked, she was hoping to see Castle turn on a little bit of charm but maybe that would have to wait for another day.

"No, I need to get home and rest, get a clear head before starting the day tomorrow. I wont get that if I stay here and have any more drinks."

"C'mon Beckett, you've only had one drink." Esposito said. "Stay for just one more."

"No, and you guys better be focused when you come into work tomorrow."

Esposito and Ryan both looked at each other, and gave Beckett one nod to tell her they understood.

Beckett picked up her things and started making her way to the door. She was just about to reach out to open it when a hand reached past her and reached the handle before her. When she looked up, Castle stood there holding the door open and smiling.

"Castle, I can open a door on my own."

"I know. I was being a gentleman. Let me hail you a cab," he said.

"I am quite capable of doing that myself too. I've done it plenty of times before."

"Again, I know. I really just wanted to say good bye again, so I'd be the last person you saw before leaving," he smiled cheekily.

Beckett rolled her eyes, something she found herself doing a lot at him, and then watched as he raised his hand to hail a cab. When one pulled up he walked over and opened the door for her. He really was being a gentleman. She couldn't remember the last time a man held a door open for her, unless he was trying to come home with her.

"Castle, I am not inviting you to come home with me," she said with a slight amount of anger in her voice.

He just looked at her eyes wide with surprise. "I wasn't expecting you to."

"Oh," Kate suddenly felt embarrassed about jumping to conclusions. She could now see by the look on his face, that his actions with the cab hadn't meant anything more than they were. She felt her cheeks go slightly red, whether it was because she was embarrassed by her own actions, or if it was because Rick being a gentleman actually made her like him a little bit more, she didn't know, but she didn't want him to see. So she got into the cab and told the driver her address.

"Thanks again for the drink Castle," she said closing the door quickly.

Castle watched as the cab drove away slightly confused at her sudden need to get in the cab and close the door as quickly as possible, then he went back inside to Lanie and the boys.

When he walked over to the table they were all looking at him with big smiles.

Esposito was the first one to speak. "Did you get a goodnight kiss then Castle?"

Castle looked over to Lanie to see her expressions. After what she had said to him previously about finding his next catch of the day, he wasn't sure she would be happy about him being alone with Beckett outside. It wasn't like anything happened, but Lanie didn't know that. What he saw on her face was not a warning to him though, she had the same silly expression Ryan and Esposito had. She had wanted him to give her a kiss goodnight. That was not what he expected at all.

"No," he said simply. "How about another drink, then I should get home. Alexis may be wondering where I am"

"Alexis?" Lanie asked, hoping Alexis wasn't another of his women.

"My daughter," Castle said smiling. "I called her to tell her where I was going, but she worries about me sometimes. I think she's more of an adult than I am." He laughed.

The boys nodded and Castle went over to get them another drink each, remember their orders from the previous round.

They finished up their drinks and were getting their stuff ready to leave. Just before they left, Lanie pulled Castle aside.

"Just so you know Castle. If you hurt her, it's not just me you have to deal with. Those two over there are like family to her too."

"I don't intend on hurting her. I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you know Castle. I think you know exactly what I'm talking about," she said walking off to hail herself a cab, leaving Castle standing by himself baffled over what had just happened.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry to anyone who had issues with yesterday's chapter. I uploaded it but it didn't seem to want to appear on here although it sent emails. That should now be up fine and I hope this one goes up without the same problem. Thanks again for all the new followers and stuff...**

**Oh, and I still don't own anything but the story.  
**

* * *

Kate sat in her car outside the morgue, she had been there for at least five minutes, but something was stopping her from getting out. She wasn't sure if she should go ahead as planned.

She had arrived at the precinct early in the morning. Something from the conversation she and Castle had at The Old Haunt made her realise that maybe they hadn't looked into their victims life enough. Maybe they had missed something. She went through his bank details and found that he had received a number of large deposits into his account over the last few months. They had come at irregular intervals and were different amounts each time, but it was possible proof that he had been up to something. She just had to figure out what. She had spent some time going over the statements and following where the payments had come from finally tracing it back to a man who lived just outside the city and had decided to pay him a visit.

She explained to the boys what she had found, advised them where she was going and went to collect things from her desk. It was then that she felt the need to call Lanie and ask if Castle was working with her. When Lanie said he was, Kate asked if she minded lending Castle to her while following up a lead. Lanie was quite surprised but Kate explained to her that it was something Castle had said that convinced her to look into the victims life further, and she felt it was the right thing to do to let him come along.

So, she had gone to pick up Castle and that's how she found herself just sitting in the car, outside the morgue.

"_Gosh Kate, what is wrong with you?_" she thought to herself. "_Your going to follow a lead, and he's coming with you. There's nothing wrong with that_."

She was talking to herself in her head, trying to convince herself that taking Castle along was a good idea. But for the past couple days he really hadn't done much other than get in her way. The only time he hadn't was last night when they weren't even supposed to be working. She had no idea how things would be if she took him into an interview. She didn't know if he was going to be helpful or if he would prevent her from getting information she needed, but she was willing to take the risk and find out.

It wasn't just the worry about how he would behave though. She had also found herself beginning to like him more and more as the days progressed, and he had proven himself to be quite the gentleman the previous night and they had gotten along really well. As she had gone off in the taxi home, she couldn't take her mind off how things may have been if she had invited him to come with her. She was still unsure of him, knowing the reputation he had, she didn't want herself falling for the guy only to find that he just wanted her to be one of his conquests. Spending this time with him now, would definitely not help her stop thinking of him, and it would most likely make her start thinking about him even more.

But… It was too late to back out now, she had told him she was going to come pick him up. After realising that she had already made her choice before calling Lanie, she got up and walked into the morgue to find Lanie and Castle.

The pair were in Lanie's usual room talking. Kate was pretty sure she heard Lanie telling Castle to behave himself, not to say anything unless he was told to speak and to keep his less than helpful behaviour to a minimum.

When Kate walked into the room Lanie was the first to notice her. Castle had his back towards her.

"Hi Lanie," she smiled and Lanie returned the hello.

"Castle, are you ready to go?"

Castle picked up two coffees which he had in front of him and turned towards the detective.

"I'm sooooooo ready," he said excited. "Oh, I got you a coffee."

"Castle, you didn't even know I was coming in this morning. I thought I told you yesterday after you had me come in here for no reason, no more coffee"

"I know. But when Lanie said that you were coming to pick me up to follow a lead, I quickly went to the place across the road and got you one. I figured since you were coming in anyway…" he shrugged not really completing his sentence but hoping the detective understood what he meant.

She watched his face as he spoke. It was full of sincerity. "Thank you. Now, let's go." She took her cup from Castle and they made their way out.

As they walked to the car Kate explained what she had found while at the precinct.

"You do understand, this is a once off. I have only asked if you wished to join me this one time because you were the one that pushed me to look further into our victims life. If I hadn't done that, I'm not sure I would have found this lead."

"So, I was helpful?"

"Yes, it seems you were."

"Will you call me, Detective Castle?" he asked feeling optimistic.

"No"

"How about assistant Detective Castle?

"No"

"Oh." Castle's enthusiasm was shut right down. "So, did we find anything more on the cigarettes?" he asked hoping that maybe he could prove that he would be a good assistant detective.

"Well as you know Lanie discovered the victim was not a smoker, but that doesn't really mean anything. Just because the killer used cigarettes in his torture activities, doesn't mean that he was a smoker. The guys are going through everything from the crime scene, they had hoped to find a cigarette butt to get DNA from but it's not looking promising."

He nodded to show he understood. "So, what do we need to know from this guy that we're going to see?"

"Well, we want to find out why he was depositing money into our vic's account. See if he knows anything more about the victim and what he may have been hiding."

Castle was just about to ask another question when Beckett's phone rang beside her.

"Beckett," she answered. "Oh really?... No, that's great. Castle is going to be disappointed though… Yes, he's here right now… No, it's nothing like that… No, I'll see you soon. Bye."

When she hung up Castle was looking at her with a confused expression. He had no idea who was on the other end of the phone or what they had said but he didn't like the sound of their conversation. Whatever it was, it didn't mean good news for him. Maybe the captain had found out about him joining her, and didn't agree with it. He thought the detective was going to have to turn around and take him back to the morgue. Just when he thought things were getting interesting and was going to have some fun.

"Well I'm sorry Castle, but it seems your days of being assistant detective are already over before they begun."

"Seriously?" Castle said with a look of disappointment. "Didn't you check with the captain before inviting me to join you?"

"What..? That wasn't the captain. And yes, for your information, I did check with the captain." She didn't mention that it wasn't until she had already spoken to Lanie and while she was on the way to the morgue before she even thought about asking the captain, but luckily he was okay with it as long as Castle stayed out of the way and didn't cause any trouble.

"So, who was it? What did they say?"

"It was Espo. It turns out our killer grew a conscience and turned himself in. I'm not sure about all the details, but we have a confession, and that's all we need."

"Wow. Does that happen often?"

"No, not often. I guess sometimes, people just can't deal with the guilt or realise that they couldn't have covered their tracks completely and they know they'll get a better deal if they confess rather than wait for us to find them. Either that or they're in even more trouble themselves and they feel safer locked up that out in the streets."

"So, I guess that means you'll get out of the precinct early tonight then?" he said with a smile as an idea popped into his head.

"Well, I'll have to interview the guy that's come in, I need to make sure his story makes sense. Then as long as everyone's happy and he's signed his confession, I just have to finish up all the paper work and should be free to go by about 3:00 because I went in early this morning. Unless we get another body of course."

"So… you have time to come out for dinner with me then?" he asked. "Unless of course, you get another body. But I'm going to be crossing my fingers in the hopes that there are no more murders today."

Castle just kept looking at Beckett waiting for her to answer. At first, he had a huge grin on his face, but Beckett noticed that every moment longer she left him in silence without an answer the grin slowly fell.

She didn't know what to say. She had enjoyed the drink the night before, and Castle had proven himself to be more than just a pain in the ass guy who got in the way. Dinner might actually be fun, and nice. But it would be just them. When they had gone for drinks, Lanie and the boys were there. What if things were different without them.

"C'mon Beckett, let me take you to dinner. As a thank you, for listening to me, and putting up with me. I promise, just dinner, no funny business."

"Ok, if there's no new body, we can have dinner. No funny business," she reiterated.

When she opened her mouth she had no idea what she was going to say and was shocked when she realised she actually just agreed to have dinner with Castle. Turning to look at Castle it seemed he was quite shocked as well, although Beckett couldn't figure out why since he had been the one to ask.

The rest of the ride back to the morgue was silent. Castle was silently excited, while Beckett silently nervous. When they got back, Castle climbed out of the car. "Aren't you coming in?" he asked Beckett.

"Um, no. I need to get back to the station." A part of her wanted to go in, she desperately needed to talk to Lanie because she knew there was no way Castle was going to go back in and not tell Lanie what she had just agreed to. But she also knew she needed to get back to the station.

"So, I'll see you tonight then?" he asked it as a question just to make sure she hadn't changed her mind.

"Yeah, I'll send my address to your phone."

"But, you don't have my number," he said. For a brief moment he thought that she was trying to get out of it without actually have to tell him to his face.

"I'm a detective Castle, I know your number."

"Oh, well I'll see you tonight. 7pm ok?"

"Yes, now will you close the door so I can get back to the precinct. I thought we were over this preventing me from doing my job thing."

"Sorry," he said closing the door. "See you tonight," he said quickly as it shut.

When he made his way down the corrider and to the room where Lanie was working, he could not stop smiling. He felt like his whole body could sing. "_She said yes_," he thought to himself. "_She actually said yes._"

Lanie saw the huge smile on his face. "What are you smiling about writer boy?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Time to get ready for dinner together... let's see how that goes**

**Disclaimer... Nothing's changed. Still the same. Castle & characters do not belong to me.  
**

* * *

Kate answered the door, wrapped in just her towel, to a very impatient Lanie waiting on the other side. There was no hello, nothing. Lanie simply barged in, which Kate didn't really mind.

"I can't believe you said yes," Lanie said making her way straight through to Kate's bedroom.

She had come on Kate's request to help her decide what to wear. Kate really had no idea what she was doing, she still wasn't sure it was a good idea she had even agreed to go to dinner with Castle. And even though she was feeling a little nervous about it, she was also quite excited. She was going to have dinner with him, she was going on a date with 'the Richard Castle'.

"I still can't believe it myself Lanie," Kate said following her friend. "I don't even know why I said yes. Why did I say yes?" she asked hoping that Lanie would be able to shed some light on the situation.

"Well, it's obvious you like the guy Kate. We could all see it yesterday. You were totally flirting with him."

"Oh, you saw that?" Kate said feeling slightly embarrassed. "I really hadn't meant to, it kinda just happened."

"You kinda just happened to flirt? Do you do that with all the guys Kate, because if you do, I think we need to have a little bit of a chat."

"No, okay, I knew it was happening, but I didn't mean to. I mean it's Castle. You know what he's like. He's self-centred, he's arrogant, he can be an ass, and well he's just… he's Castle"

"He's fun. Just go out and enjoy it. Get to know him. Maybe there's more to him than you think."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"But, Lanie… what about all those stories, all the pictures in the paper, the women. I don't want to just be another one of them. This is a bad idea, I should call and tell him I changed my mind."

"Kate, you will do no such thing. Give the guy a chance. He may have that image but I think you'll find he's more of a gentleman than the papers give him credit for. Just go out, have some fun, and talk to him. Tell him your concerns right from the beginning. He's been dealing with the papers for years, I'm pretty sure he'll know how to keep them away to stop those stories from appearing."

"So, you don't think those stories are completely true?" Kate asked. She could sense that there was something Lanie wasn't telling her. Maybe Castle had spoken to Lanie about the papers and their stories. If Lanie believed there was more to him then Kate wanted to find out for herself. She didn't really see their relationship going any further than friendship. She liked him, but he lived in a completely different world, and she was pretty sure she was completely different to anyone else he had ever gone out with. Friends, that's all they would ever be, and she wasn't sure she really wanted anything more than that with him.

"No, I think there's probably some truth to the stories, but I also think that people will print anything in a paper to make money, so I think it's important we don't judge by just the paper alone."

"Wow, Lanie, when did you become so wise?" Kate said with a laugh.

Lanie just shrugged and laughed with her.

Looking at her watch and noticing that Kate was still only dressed in a towel, she asked, "What time is he coming?"

"7pm."

"Oh goodness me girl, we better get you dressed and ready. I mean I'm sure he wont have any problems with you being dressed in only a towel but I think clothing would be a good idea this time round."

Kate slapped her friend with the back of her hand to her shoulder. "Lanie Parish! Behave yourself!"

Lanie then started looking through Kate's wardrobe pulling out a few options. It was important to get the look just right. She didn't want anything too sexy, because that would give Castle the wrong impression. She wanted him to know that Kate was definitely not simply a conquest to add to his list. But she had to be just a little bit sexy to tease him. Both Lanie and Kate knew how much he loved to be teased. They also had no idea where Castle would be taking her, which made the decision difficult. She had to find something that was suitable to wear anywhere really. Knowing Castle though, he was probably going to take her somewhere fancy.

Lanie pulled out a short black strapless dress. It was perfect. The dress was short enough to show off Beckett's long legs, but also was straight cut at the top so there was no large amount of cleavage to distract Castle too much or that would give him the wrong idea. She then found a jacket, just incase it was cold. Putting it with the dress it looked great. She topped it off with some dangly earrings and a touch of make up and she was set to go, except shoes. There was only one answer for the shoes. A pair of black heels. The finished look was perfection.

With everything finished and both Lanie and Kate happy with the way Kate looked, they had about 10 minutes before Castle was due to pick her up.

Lanie picked up her things. "Well, I should be going. Good luck tonight Kate. Have fun, and I want to know everything tomorrow."

"Sure Lanie. Hopefully, I'll have something to tell and it wont already be splashed through the papers. Thanks for your help." She opened the door as Lanie stepped out, only to turn back to wish her luck once more before heading out before Castle arrived.

* * *

Castle walked out of his room carrying two shirts and held them up for Alexis to see.

"I need a shirt that says, 'I'm interesting, smart and not in the least bit annoying'. Which of these says that?" he asked.

He usually didn't need help getting dressed, he found himself to be quite good when it came to dressing for the ladies, but this was different. He wasn't so sure of himself. He was still quite surprised Detective Beckett had even agreed to have dinner with him. So, he wanted to make sure he dressed right and he knew Alexis would know exactly what to wear.

"Dad, I thought you were doing this job thing for research, not to impress the detective?"

"I was, well I still am, this isn't work. This is outside of work it's completely separate."

"Hmmm… if you say so," Alexis said with uncertaintly. "I think the shirt on the left is great."

She had chosen a dark blue shirt, actually one of Rick's favourites. He was thinking of wearing that one himself, but wanted to be certain.

"Does it make me look ruggedly handsome?" he asked with a grin.

"Daaaaad!"

"What? I know, I know, I'm always ruggedly handsome aren't I?"

Alexis just smiled at him and pushed him towards his room, "Just go get dressed."

Castle went back into his room and made his way into the bathroom while he buttoned up his shirt. He took a look at himself in the mirror and he had to admit, he did like the way the shirt looked on him. He looked good. He brushed his teeth and made sure his hair wasn't flat.

Looking at himself one final time in the mirror he realised that tonight was different. He doesn't remember ever putting this much time and effort into getting ready for anyone else, not even his ex wives. What was it about this detective that made him want to try so hard? Why was she so different? He had been on plenty of dates before, not once was he ever this nervous. As he thought more and more about it, the heavier his feet felt until it got to the stage where he didn't think he could move his feet.

Alexis knew that Detective Beckett was expecting her father at 7pm and when she looked at the time, she realised if he didn't leave soon, he was going to be late. She wasn't sure what to think about this date that her father had. He went on a lot of dates, but this one was different. This detective that he was going to dinner with was a much more serious woman than the other woman he had dated. But even though she was nervous and unsure about the date, she didn't want her father to be late. She didn't know the detective, but if she was the right match for her dad, Alexis didn't want it to be ruined before they found out, so she decided she should tell him to get a move on.

"Hey dad, if you don't leave soon, you're going to be late," Alexis called, but when she received no response she decided to get up and find out if he needed help.

She walked into his room to find him just standing in front of the mirror staring. His mind seemed to be somewhere else.

"Dad, is everything ok?"

Castle snapped out of his stare and looked at his daughter, looking at him with a worried expression.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. It's just…" he wasn't really sure how to explain what had him glued to the spot.

Alexis could see that he was nervous but he didn't want to admit it. "Since when have you ever been nervous for a date?" Alexis asked taking the last few steps towards her father.

Castle wrapped his arm over her shoulder and hugged her to his side. "I'm not, really, I'm… I guess… This is different. Detective Beckett is different, she's not like the others, so I'm not sure what to expect. I just realised that I don't know what I'm doing tonight. Every other time, I've known what moves to make, I've known how to get anyone to do what I want, but Beckett, she's different."

"Dad, just be yourself. Don't try to be anything else and you'll be fine."

"Be myself? I think I can do that. Thanks Alexis," he said kissing her on the head and giving her one last squeeze. "Well, I should be going then I guess."

He grabbed his jacket and made his way to the door, Alexis following behind.

"Good luck Dad," she said as he opened the door to leave.

He gave her one last smile before leaving for his date.


	10. Chapter 10

**It's time for a date... I still don't own the characters :)**

* * *

Castle was thankful for the lack of traffic on the roads and made it to Beckett's apartment in record time after making a quick stop on the way. He lifted his hand to knock on the door but then put it down and looked at his phone. He wanted to check one last time that he was at the correct address. So he found the message the detective had sent with her address and once he was happy and sure that he was at the right place, he knocked lightly 3 times.

On the other side of the door, Kate looked at the clock when she heard the knocks. Castle was right on time. She took one deep breath in and opened the door.

Castle stood there with a nervous looking smile on his face. He really did look quite adorable with that expression on his face. Dressed in a blue shirt that made his eyes stand out, he looked great. She couldn't help but wonder how he looked under his shirt. Did he work out much? Was he muscular or was he one of those guys that just let themselves go? It wasn't like writing involved him to keep fit did it? She had to quickly shake those thoughts from her mind before the silence became awkward.

"Hi, Castle. Right on time," she said with a smile.

"Of course, did you expect any different," he said, taking in the sight before him. The detective looked amazing. He wasn't sure how she did it, but she looked not only beautiful but sizzling hot and classy all at the same time. Most women he had met before couldn't pull off all of the looks off at once, but detective Beckett seemed to have perfected it. He let his eyes wander down her body and at her long slender legs. Castle couldn't believe his luck. How was it that this detective was still single, and what made her say yes to having dinner with him. Yeah, he knew he wasn't bad to look at but he hadn't really done much other than get in the way over the past couple of days. He figured he must have done something right to get her to like him just a little bit.

"Well, I've known men that have been almost an hour late. I'm glad you're not one of them, I'll just go get my things," Beckett said. She had not yet noticed the bag of Chinese that Castle had in his hand.

"Oh," Castle held up the bag carrying the food. "I thought we could…" He saw Beckett's eyes open wider as he saw the bag, and the smile left her face. "Um… eat in?" he finished.

"Are you serious? You think I'm going to invite you in here? Castle! I'm not going to be another one of your conquests!" she said.

Castle could definitely hear the slightly angry tone to her voice but thought he'd try and lighten the mood with a joke.

"Well, you don't have to be, but maybe I can be one of yours," he said wiggling his eyebrows.

Kate's face changed from slightly angry to extremely angry and she went to close the door in Castle's face, but just before it closed, he put his foot in the way to stop it, realising that maybe the joke was not the best choice given Beckett's reaction. He wasn't exactly sure what made him think Beckett would even find it funny, but it was too late to take it back.

Kate opened the door again.

"Castle!" she said glaring at him.

"Look, I'm sorry. That was an extremely stupid thing to say."

"You think?" Beckett said continuing her glare in his direction.

"I guess I'm nervous. You're different to other women I've had dinner with. I don't know what I'm doing."

"Wow, that must have been difficult for you to admit," Kate said letting some of the anger fall from her face. The poor guy standing in front of her did seem unusually nervous for a guy who is normally too confident for his own good.

"Let me explain this," he said holding up the Chinese again. "I know people don't usually eat in on a first… date," he said the word 'date' nervously, almost questioning it, like he wasn't sure if this dinner was a date, but when she saw Beckett smile again, he knew it was the right word to use. "With the reputation that I have, I'm really not surprised you're angry and don't want to invite me in right away. I know I'm no movie star but, I still sometimes get the cameras following me, particularly when I'm with a woman. And one as beautiful as you, is only going to attract more attention. I didn't want pictures of us plastered in the newspapers and magazines with those horrible headlines they print. You just don't seem to be the kind of person who would want that. I'm happy for us to eat somewhere if you want and we'll do our best to stay away from cameras. I'll eat out here in the hall with you if you don't want me to come in. If I have to I'll pass some food through the door while you stay inside and we can talk through the door."

Beckett laughed a little at that suggestion.

"But, I'm hoping that you'll let me come in," Castle continued and finished with a wide grin and held the bag of food out in front of him allowing Beckett to smell the food inside.

Beckett shook her head a little while smiling. She could not believe that Castle had just won her over again. How could she not let the guy in after that speech? Not only that, but the food smelt great, and she was starting to feel very hungry.

"Fine," she said. "You can come in, but we're having dinner… that's it!"

Castle pulled out a movie from the bag. "And maybe a movie?"

Beckett looked at the movie, then back at her date who was standing there with a completely innocent look on his face. He really was making it difficult to say no.

"We'll have dinner, and then we shall see about the movie." Kate said moving aside to allow Castle to enter her apartment. "Do we need anything to go with the food? Plates, forks…?" she asked.

"If you're happy to eat from the containers, and are skillful with chopsticks then no. We'll save on washing up."

"Sounds good to me," Beckett said finally able to close the door.

"Do you have anything to drink?" Castle asked, remembering that he had forgotten to bring something to drink.

"I'm sure I've got something. I can't believe you didn't bring that along with you too."

"Um yeah, I kinda… forgot. I'll bring two drinks next time."

"Oh, don't get too far ahead of yourself Castle. Who said there was even going to be a next time?"

"That was mean, Detective. Let's just say, I hope that there'll be a next time."

The two started making their way to the sofa where they could sit comfortably.

"You haven't even made it through this time yet. Wait until after dinner, then I may think about a next time," Kate said leaving Castle alone to go into the kitchen to find something to drink.

She looked around her kitchen unsure of exactly what Castle expected. She wasn't sure if she should take water, soda or wine. After a moment thinking about it, she decided she would take the red wine. It would hopefully help take away the nerves that she knew both of them were feeling. The wine probably wasn't as good as wines that Castle was used to but, it was better than nothing. She opened the bottle and poured two glasses leaving the bottle in the kitchen. The last thing she wanted was to drink too much and find herself getting drunk because she knew that would lead to something she would probably regret. Although, she did have quite the tolerance for alcohol so sharing one bottle wouldn't affect her. With one last thought, she decided to turn around and pick up the bottle. She placed the glasses back down on the bench so she could rearrange the things in her hands to carry it all back to where Castle was waiting, but when she looked up Castle had come to find her in the kitchen. He had finished emptying the bag of food onto the coffee table and came to see if he could be useful somewhere else.

"I thought I'd see if I could help, and it looks like you might need it," he said looking down at her hands while she tried to figure out how to carry 2 glasses of wine and the bottle. "Most people would move the bottle and glasses before pouring them. It makes things a lot easier to carry," he said with a slight laugh.

"Oh shut up Castle and come help me," she said with a laugh in return.

Castle went over and picked up the glasses, leaving Kate with just the wine bottle.

When they made their way back to the sofa Castle sat on one side and Beckett made herself comfortable on the other, keeping the distance between herself and Castle so as not to give him any ideas. From what she had seen so far, she wasn't sure how much of the tabloids to even consider true. Sure, at times he had said some crazy things that went along with the image the media gave him, but it was also like there was this whole other side to him that probably nobody knew. She didn't want to get to know the Castle she could read about in the paper or magazines, she wanted to get to know the real Castle, and in order to do that, she had to watch that she didn't make any inappropriate moves herself.

"Got enough food there Castle?" Kate said noticing the large assortment of food in the containers in front of her.

"Yeah," Castle said as he picked up a container of sweet and sour pork. "I didn't know what you would like, so I got a few different choices. I wanted to get a bit of everything, but I thought that would be going slightly overboard. Hopefully there's something that you like here."

"I'm sure there is," she said picking up some honey chicken. "This looks great!"

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**So the date does continue... it went a little long so I split it into 2 chapters :) **


	11. Chapter 11

**Here we go, the continuation of dinner... :)**

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Castle and Beckett spent their time trying all the different dishes in front of them. Castle asked about how the afternoon went with the guy that came in and confessed to the murder and Kate explained it all to him. She had spent quite some time in the interrogation room with the guy confirming details to make sure he was telling the truth and he wasn't covering for someone else.

When Castle asked what made the killer turn himself in, Beckett still wasn't really sure. Kate said that it didn't seem like he was afraid that anyone was after him, it just seemed to be that the guilt of knowing he had murdered someone became too much to handle. After looking through files it seemed to be the first time the guy had ever murdered anyone , he had a few minor assault charges previously but nothing huge.

Castle asked what she did for the rest of the afternoon, in which she responded by explaining one of the most boring parts of being a detective, paperwork. A lot of information had to go into the paperwork and it took quite some time.

"As a writer, I would think that you may actually like paperwork," Beckett said. "You get to write all the details down, a little like writing a story." It really wasn't anything like writing a story, but she was interested to see what Castle's thoughts would be.

"Except, it's all truth and there's no fun to it," Castle added.

"There's no fooling you is there? You're right. Paperwork is just painful. You should be glad Lanie isn't making you do any at the medical examiners office."

"Yeah, I am quite thankful that I don't have to do that myself but, you know, there are parts of every job that we wish we didn't have."

"Oh really? So, there's things about being a successful writer that are as bad as having to do a whole bunch of paperwork with every case."

"Well yeah, there's the whole having a publisher and publicist thing. They are so pushy, you have to do what they want you to do, and they make it really difficult to argue with them."

"Oh, so it's kind of like having a boss," Beckett said raising her eyebrows at Castle.

"Ok, you got me there. Let me think about this for a second."

Beckett watched him carefully as he thought.

"Got it!" he said after a moment of silence. "Tabloids! It doesn't matter what you say or what you do, they always change a story to make it look how they want it to look. They'll write anything to make money, even if it puts a person down or creates an image for them that isn't right. Add that to the fact that I have a publicist and you know what that means... I end up with people telling me to do things just to get stories in the paper and it creates this false image of who they want me to be, not who I want to be. It may not be paperwork but it makes the job more difficult and painful."

Beckett was starting to see the man in front of her in a different way. There was definitely a lot more to him than she had originally thought. A part of her wanted to continue asking questions but she didn't want to dig too much and bring him down. Even though the evening was far from what she had expected, and she got dressed and ended up staying in, she had been having fun and didn't want to ruin that.

They continued to eat until they had eaten as much as they could handle. Castle helped Beckett clear up the containers of left overs and took them to the kitchen.

"We'll put these left overs in your fridge for next time," he said.

"Again with the next time? I still haven't decided whether there will be a next time Castle," Beckett teased.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad am I? Tell me you're not enjoying yourself and I'll leave here now and won't bother you ever again."

Kate thought about it for a second. Having Castle not bother her could be a good thing when it came to her work, but she was enjoying herself and she couldn't lie to him. Besides, a part of her was looking forward to having him around a little more.

"As much as it pains me to say this, I am enjoying myself Castle."

"I knew it!" he said excitedly.

They had put the containers in the fridge and made their way back to the sofa. Castle took his seat first and Kate found herself sitting a little closer than last time feeling more comfortable in his company.

"What would you have done if I said I wasn't enjoying myself? You really would never bother me again?"

"Actually, no I probably wouldn't, but that's okay, because you, Detective Beckett, admitted that you are enjoying my company."

"I said I was enjoying myself, not your company."

Castle fisted his hand in his shirt over his heart. "Oh Beckett, you wound me"

They both laughed.

"So, how about that movie?" Castle asked.

"You know what," Kate said. "How about we just finish the wine we've got here and save the movie for another time. It's getting late and I have work tomorrow."

"So… you admit that there'll be another time? You're not just saying that to be nice."

Kate giggled a little and placed her elbow on the back of the chair, bending one leg in front of her body. Her knee now touching Castle's leg, she turned to face him. She rested her head in her hand while holding her wine glass in the other.

"I meant it when I said I was enjoying myself. So yes, I think we could do this again," she said biting her bottom lip with her teeth and looking down.

"That's good," Castle said. "Just so you know, I'm enjoying myself too."

The pair looked up at each other smiling and found themselves lost in each others gazes. They stayed there silently for a minute or so, neither of them able to take their eyes away.

Castle didn't want to rush things, he didn't want to scare Beckett away by making a move. After all, it was still only their first date. It didn't matter how much he wanted to kiss her, he wasn't going to. He wanted her to get to know him before he tried anything like that. He didn't want her to think the tabloids were right about him all along.

"So, did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight," Castle said, breaking the silence.

"Thanks, but you know if I knew we would be eating in, I probably would have just stayed in my jeans. I thought you'd be taking me out somewhere fancy."

"Yeah, sorry about that, you know…"

"It's okay Castle," Kate interrupted. She felt like Castle was going to start explaining himself all over again. "I know you're trying to protect me."

Castle smiled. "You would have looked just as beautiful in jeans as well."

Kate blushed a little and took another sip of her wine. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Castle couldn't help but notice the red creeping up onto the detectives cheeks, and he would have loved to see her blush a little more, but he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, I always look this good. But I have to admit, my daughter Alexis helped me dress tonight" he said.

His comment did exactly what he wanted it to as Beckett let out a small laugh and he could sense that she was feeling more comfortable again. Beckett was just about to ask about Castle's daughter, she was interested to know more, but then Castle spoke up again so she decided she could ask another time.

"You know, if it makes you feel more comfortable, I'd be more than happy for you to go and change."

"Yes, I'm going to go and change leaving you in my apartment thinking about me changing while you're only a few feet away. I don't think so."

"Oh, you know I'm going to think about it now anyway."

Beckett playfully hit Castle in the chest. "There's no point changing now, I'll be getting ready for bed shortly."

"Oh, I don't mind if you do that while I'm here either" Castle said.

"Castle!"

"Sorry, but you asked for that one."

Beckett looked away not wanting Castle to see the smile she was trying to hide.

Castle picked up his wine glass and took one last sip finishing off his glass.

"You know, it's late, and like you said, you've got work tomorrow, so I should probably get going. I don't want to be the one to blame if you're late to work in the morning" Castle said.

Kate looked at the clock on the wall. "Yeah, well you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun."

"Indeed it does detective," Castle said standing to his feet and picking up the two empty wine glasses.

Kate got up and followed Castle to the kitchen where he placed the glasses on the sink and then walked over to the front door.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Castle said as Kate opened the door for him.

"That depends Castle. If a body drops and both my team and Lanie are assigned to the case, then yes, I guess I will see you tomorrow."

Castle took a few steps out of the door and turned to face Kate. "I know some people in high places, I'm sure I can arrange for us to be assigned to the same cases."

"Castle, you can't do that. There's a system."

"Alright, but just so you know. I'm going to be crossing my fingers and hoping that the next case I work on, you'll be there. And even if we're not working on the same case, I'll have a coffee waiting for you tomorrow morning at the morgue, if you want to drop by. If not, I'll drink it for you, and you miss out."

"We'll see," Beckett said leaning against the door frame. She gave him one last smile. "Night Castle."

"Until tomorrow, Detective" Castle said as he turned and walked down the hall.

Once she couldn't see him anymore, Kate closed her door and found herself leaning back against it. The night had not been what she expected at all, but she had enjoyed it. Castle was a fun guy to be around, at times, he may have made inappropriate jokes, but he always seemed to make up for it and he made her feel comfortable. She can't remember the last time she'd had a date where she felt so at home. Maybe it was because they were in her own home, but the nerves she felt at the beginning of the night were gone within a few minutes, he made her feel relaxed, and that's just what she needed after a hard day at work. She was a little surprised that he hadn't tried to kiss her as he left, but it made her respect him even more. She was sure it wasn't because he hadn't wanted to, he was just trying his best to behave.

As she got ready for bed, she struggled to remove images of his smiling face from her mind. She was a little excited to see him again, maybe she would go in for the coffee in the morning, even if it was just a quick stop over.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks again for the new reviews and I appreciate the honesty. I have written the rest of the story but am considering making a few changes here and there ... so keep the reviews coming. They do help!**

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Lanie was surprised the next morning when instead of Castle walking through the door, she saw Kate.

"Hey girl. What are you doing here this morning? I've got no body here for you." Lanie said. There was no body on the table so she knew Kate wasn't there for information.

"Hey Lanie, I just thought I'd come say hi before heading into work."

"Kate, in the time that I've known you, you've never just dropped in before work."

"Well, maybe I just wanted to do something a little different. I haven't been given a new case since yesterday, so I had a few spare minutes."

"Oh, wait a minute, you were hoping writer boy would be here weren't you?" The smile on Lanie's face grew wide. "I take it last night went really well then," she raised her eyebrows. "I want to hear all about it."

"There's nothing to tell Lanie." Kate said immediately. There really wasn't anything to tell. It's not like anything had happened, and at this stage she was happy with that. She wanted to get to know Castle, wanted to discover the man behind the stories.

"So you seriously think that I am going to believe that you came here just to say hi? I'm not buying it Kate. Don't worry though, I'm sure Castle will be here soon."

Kate couldn't stop the smile from creeping onto her face at the mention of his name. Oh man, she had it bad. She'd had one dinner with him, that was it, and he already has this crazy effect on her that made her smile when she heard his name mentioned. She really had enjoyed the evening with Castle, even if it hadn't been what she had expected and almost ended before it begun. Castle made up for it, and was such a gentleman the whole night, never pushing anything and not making any moves that made her uncomfortable.

"Oh, I see that smile. I may not be a detective Kate, but I can see that you are trying to hide something. Spill, I want details."

"Honestly Lanie, there's nothing to tell. We had dinner, we talked. It was nice."

"Nice? That's all you've got for me… nice? Where did you go, what did you do?"

Lanie knew she was Kate's best friend. She wasn't actually sure Kate had much of a life outside work or if she had many other friends that she saw often, other than those she worked with so she knew that Kate wasn't going to be talking to anyone else about what had happened. She had to get her to talk.

"Ahhh… we stayed in and ate chinese."

"Oh my…. You let him in your apartment?"

"Well, I wasn't going to. I put in all that effort to go out, but he said something about cameras and trying to protect me from rumours that papers start. He was even willing to stay out in the hall with me inside. So, it wasn't ideal, but I let him in." Kate knew that letting Castle in for dinner wasn't really the ideal first date, and she probably wouldn't usually have allowed it. It was Castle after all, surely he had ways to stay away from the cameras, but there had been something about him, that won her over and made her allow him in.

"Oh, so a quiet dinner for two in the comfort of your own home. How romantic."

"Romantic is for couples in love Lanie. We are not a couple in love."

"Yet," Lanie quickly added which resulted in a glare from Kate.

"No, we are just friends eating dinner together, and getting to know one another."

"Friends? Kate, I was there when you were getting dressed. You were not dressing for a friendly dinner. The way you dressed, you wanted to get his attention, you wanted him to look at you as more than a friend."

At that moment, Castle came into the room with a tray of drinks after overhearing what Lanie had said, he couldn't stop the smile from plastering itself on his face, and when he saw Kate, his smile grew even larger, if that was even possible.

"Good morning Castle," Lanie said being the first to see him.

Kate turned around to see Castle standing behind her with a huge grin. She kind of wanted to wipe that grin off his face and replace it with her lips, but with Lanie standing right there, it was definitely not the right time. She needed to wait, she needed to take things slow. It was proving to be a difficult task though. Just looking at him caused her body to tingle. Lanie was right. She liked him more than she was willing to admit even to herself.

"Morning Lanie," Castle said to the medical examiner. "Morning detective," he said towards Kate picking up a coffee from the tray and holding it out to her. "Here's your coffee as promised."

Kate smiled and took a sip, "Mmmm," she hummed, letting a slight moan escape her mouth. After realising the noise that she had made as she sipped her coffee she felt herself getting embarrassed. She quickly looked down to hide the redness that she felt creeping up her neck and onto her cheeks. "Thanks. Well, I gotta go. Work to do. Don't wanna be late. Seeya Lanie." She spoke so fast it was difficult to make sense of everything.

Kate was out of the room so quickly it almost seemed as if she was running from something. Lanie had never seen her leave so fast in her life.

Lanie took a drink from Castle after he explained that it was a hot chocolate. "Castle, I hear you stayed in last night? What happened to taking my girl out to dinner?" She put emphasis on the word out. She had grown to trust the writer and didn't think that he would try anything on a first date, but she still had to look out for her friend and had to make sure Rick was behaving himself.

"Yeah, look, I explained to Beckett. I didn't want to go out in front of the cameras. I didn't want pictures of us to be shown around the city with crazy untrue stories. I know you know the image they give me, and I didn't want Beckett to have to deal with that."

Again, there was such sincerity to his voice that Lanie could do nothing but understand.

"So, you ate in? Anything else you care to tell me?" she asked with a serious expression.

"No," he said almost afraid of the woman standing in front of him. He was a complete gentleman the night before and he wasn't sure exactly what Lanie expected him to share.

"Oh, come on Castle, give me something," Lanie begged.

"Okay, so here's how the night went. I turned up, Beckett almost shut me out, but I convinced her to let me in."

Lanie laughed, it sounded very much like Kate.

"Then, we ate dinner, talked, and then I left."

"That's really it? I don't know if I believe you."

"Well ask Beckett, she'll tell you much the same story. There's nothing to tell."

"So, you like our detective, a lot then?"

"What? What gives you that idea? We had dinner, that's all. Friends can have dinner."

"Yes, but Mr Castle. You had dinner in her apartment, and you didn't try anything? There's only one reason for that. You like her, and you are hoping to become something other than friends."

Castle just stood there opening and closing his mouth, not knowing what to say.

"Don't try and deny it Castle. I can see it all over your face, and you know what, the way Beckett was this morning, I think she likes you to. So don't blow it!"

"I won't."

There was a moment of silence, and Lanie went over to look at something on her computer.

Castle stood thinking for a moment, "so, you really think she likes me?"

Lanie looked up from the screen and straight at Castle. "Yeah, I do. But, she's a tough nut, you know. Not always easy to crack but if anyone can do it, I believe you can. She needs some fun in her life Castle. Just promise me you'll bring her some fun."

"Of course. I'll do what I can. So what do we have to do today?"

"Actually Castle, at the moment, not much. I'm not currently working on any cases. If you've got some work you need to do at home, you can go and I'll call you if we get something to work on."

"Oh no, it's okay, I'll stay."

"You know, Beckett wont be back, unless we catch a case, so you hanging around here is not going to increase your chances of bumping into her."

"I… no… what? I'm not expecting to see her here again today. I just thought maybe I could, I don't know, be helpful here somehow."

"Sure Castle, sure"

Lanie looked back to her computer screen and Castle pulled over a chair to sit beside her. He was determined to help with whatever it was she had been doing. When Lanie's phone began to ring, Castle got excited, and he hoped they had just caught another case.

After a very short conversation on the phone Lanie turned to Castle, "You're in luck. We have another case."

Castle couldn't hold in the excitement and Lanie knew the reason why.

"And before you ask Castle. Yes, we will be working with Detective Beckett and her team again. This time try and remember the rules. Stay out of the way, don't touch anything and keep your thoughts to yourself unless we ask you."

"I will be on my best behaviour."


	13. Chapter 13

The body lay in a dark and narrow alley in a rather quiet part of the city. Castle actually found it a little creepy and took a mental picture of the area. It would be a great place to use in one of his books.

As he slowly made his way down the alley, Lanie had gone straight towards the body to find out everything she could before Detective Beckett and the team arrived.

"Hey Castle," Lanie called noticing the writer wandering through the alley carefully taking note of his surroundings.

Castle looked up and towards Lanie. "Oh yeah, dead body," he said and made his way quicky over to where Lanie was crouched.

The victim this time was a young woman. She didn't look like she would have been all that much older than Alexis.

"She's so young," she said looking over to Lanie. "What happened?"

"Well, there's no gun shots or massive injuries, so I'm looking for something smaller. Maybe she's been drugged. I'm also looking for any signs of a struggle."

"She's just so young," Castle said staring at the body laying in front of him while Lanie kept looking for a cause of death.

Seeing the young woman lying dead in front of him, Castle thought she looked almost peaceful in a terrifying way, if that was even possible. He wondered how anyone could kill someone so young? What reason could they possibly have to do so? What did this young woman get herself into and why didn't she get help? There were just so many questions running through his head. He started thinking about how her parents must feel. He couldn't imagine how he would feel if he lost Alexis. He had to get away from the body before he let himself get too caught up in his own emotions so he excused himself from Lanie and walked away.

Both Castle and Lanie had not noticed Detective Beckett and the boys arriving. Beckett stood back looking from a distance and taking in the crime scene. As she got closer she watched as the look on Castle's face dropped. He looked upset, something had bothered him. A part of her wanted to go over and make sure he was okay, but she had a job to do and right now that was more important. She convinced herself that Castle would be fine.

She made her way towards the body just as Castle got up and walked away. She squatted next to Lanie and asked what she had found out. As Lanie spoke to Beckett, she found herself unable to focus, she was watching Castle pace back and forth while talking on the phone and she watched as his facial expression changed from one of concern and worry to one of love. She wondered who he was talking to.

"Earth to Beckett," Lanie said, catching Kate's attention and getting her focus back onto the body in front of them. "Gosh, Kate, anybody would think that you were in love with the guy the way he's got your attention?"

"Sorry, Lanie… what?"

"Oh c'mon, you've been staring at the guy for the past five minutes, you haven't heard a word I've said have you?"

"Yeah, okay, I was staring at him. Not because I'm in love with him, I barely know the guy. So tell me again, who is our vic and do we know how she got here?"

Castle had just hung up his phone to Alexis. After seeing the victim he had to call her. He had to hear her voice, to know she was okay, and she was safe. He just needed to tell her he loved her and to remind her that no matter what, she could come to him with anything. If she was in trouble, she didn't have to be afraid of coming to her father. After talking to her for a few minutes, he was smiling again, so he said his goodbye's and made his way back to Lanie noticing that Detective Beckett had now joined her.

When he got to the women, Lanie was explaining what she had found. The victim had bruising on her wrists and up her arms which showed evidence of a struggle, other than that Lanie had not found anything further.

"I suspect there may be drugs involved, but I wont know for sure until I get her back to the morgue," Castle heard Lanie saying as he quietly stood next to the detective.

"So we're going back to the morgue then?" Castle asked.

Apparently, Beckett had not heard Castle come over and jumped with fright almost falling backwards when he spoke.

Castle saw Beckett stumble and tried his best not to laugh, but couldn't help himself letting a small breath of air which resulted in a glare from the detective.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to frighten you." He held out his hand to help Beckett up and she gladly took his hand and allowed him to help her stand. Castle put in more effort than he needed which caused Beckett to almost stumble again. She stopped just before she fell into Castle's body finding herself standing face to face with him and barely an inch between them.

He smiled at her and took in all her beauty. She stood there silently for a moment getting lost in his eyes, just as she had the night before, but she knew she had to snap herself out of it. They weren't alone, they were at a crime scene and she had work to do. She let go of his hand and turned back to talk to Lanie, who had already gotten up and was over talking to the boys.

"When did Lanie go over there?" she asked Castle.

"I can't say I was watching her that closely, my eyes were focused elsewhere," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Castle, behave!" Beckett slapped him on the shoulder lightly and pushed him back a little.

Castle didn't respond, he just continued grinning at the detective.

Beckett figured since Lanie was talking to the boys and probably organizing the transportation of the body she had a couple of minutes alone with Castle. "I couldn't help but notice you looked a little down earlier. Everything okay?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, everything is fine," Castle said a little less convincing than he had hoped. As soon as the detective had asked he immediately started thinking of the victims family again and felt his joy slipping away again.

"C'mon Castle, spill"

"It's just this victim. She's so young. Reminded me of Alexis."

"Your daughter?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, our victim doesn't look that much older than her. I guess it kind of just creeped me out a little."

"Castle? Creeped out. That doesn't sound like you. But I understand it would be difficult to see this knowing you've got a teenage daughter at home."

"Yeah, she's special, you know. She's my whole world and I couldn't imagine life without her in it. She's amazing. Very grown up, so I'm not sure where she gets that from."

Kate let out a little laugh and couldn't help but smile at the way Castle spoke of his daughter. It was nice to see him like this, it made her like him even more.

"You'd love her Kate. You have to meet her. I think she would love you too," he said starting to feel a little excited about the idea of them meeting.

"I'm sure she's wonderful Castle," she reached out and placed a hand on his arm. "And yes, maybe one day I'll meet her. But right now, I think I should get back to work."

"Oh gosh, I'm doing it again aren't I? I'm stopping you from doing your work. Will I ever learn?" Castle said. He could not believe that once again, he was getting in the way.

"No, I think it was my fault this time, but I'd say Lanie's just about ready to go so you should go find out whats happening and I need to talk to the boys." She let her hand fall down away from his and immediately wanted to put it back.

Things suddenly felt a little awkward between the two of them. They both had to go their separate ways to get back to work but neither wanted to, so they stood there silently looking at each other again until Castle held out his hand. Beckett looked down and took his hand shaking it.

"Nice working with you?" she said in a questioning tone. She had no idea what they were doing. They let go, and both turned away to go back to where they needed to be.

Kate made her way over to Ryan and Esposito. "So, have you boys got information for me?" she asked.

"Not until you give us the details of what's going on with you and Castle."

Kate looked surprised at the comment. "I'm sorry, nothing's going on with us. We were just talking about the case."

"Yeah, it sure looked like you were just talking about the case," Ryan said in a tone which said he didn't believe her and he shook his had.

"Beckett, the way you've been looking at him. You look like you're going to pounce of the guy as soon as you have the chance."

"Do not," she said almost too quickly.

"Oh, yeah you do," said Ryan and Esposito in unison looking at each other and then at Beckett.

"Shut up and tell me what you've got," Beckett said trying to change the subject and getting back to the case at hand.

When Castle got back to Lanie, she had moved away from the boys and was talking to some other uniformed cops.

"So, you've finished trying to chat up the detective Castle and you're ready to go now?" Lanie asked as he approached.

"I wasn't… she… I… sorry," he said knowing that he probably had wasted time talking to Beckett when they could have been working but, they didn't talk for long and it wasn't like Beckett was trying to get away from the conversation.

"Gosh, I was joking. It's good to see Kate smiling."

"Yeah, it is isn't it. That smile is hypnotic."

"Okay, I'm going to stop you there before I lose you in your thoughts again. Let's get that body to the morgue and find out what killed the poor girl."


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you again to all the new reviews and followers... I'm glad you are all enjoying the story! I hope I don't let you down :) **

**I still don't own Castle  
**

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Castle had to leave before Kate came back to the morgue for information that afternoon to go to a meeting with his publishing company. He really didn't want to go, he would have much rather stayed knowing that Detective Beckett would have been visiting the morgue again but, he had commitments and he knew he couldn't get out of this one. That didn't mean he couldn't see the detective later though.

After visiting Lanie at the morgue Kate decided to finish up for the day. There wasn't a lot more she was going to be able to do so she sent the boys home and would meet them in the morning. She just wanted to get home have a bath and relax.

As Kate arrived home, she found herself wondering what Castle had been up to that afternoon and why he wasn't at the morgue. Lanie had mentioned something about a meeting, so she figured it must have had something to do with his books. As much as she refused to admit it to herself, she had hoped to see him again. She couldn't quite work out what it was about the writer that had her so intrigued. She had not previously found herself wanting to spend as much time with someone as she found herself wanting with Castle. It was like he had cast a spell on her that she couldn't run from. Walking from the entrance of her house she made her way to her bookcase. If she didn't have Castle with her, she could still read one of his books while soaking in the tub with some bubbles. It sounded like the perfect way to end her day.

She had just pulled out one of her favourite books when her phone buzzed. Looking at it, she had received a text.

_I hope I didn't miss too much this afternoon, Detective Beckett. But just incase, do you want to fill me in while watching that movie? _

_You just want to see me again, _she replied back.

_Yeah, is that a bad thing?_

Kate smiled and thought about it for a while. She liked the idea of having a bath and reading a book, but the idea of spending some more time with the writer was slightly more appealing. She was a little unsure about it though, inviting him into her home two nights in a row. It wasn't really what you would normally do with someone you had known less than week. But he had been so well behaved the night before, and now that she was home she didn't want to leave again. She decided she would have a bath, put some comfortable clothes on and then allow him in to watch the movie.

She finally responded a few minutes later.

_No, just give me an hour and you can come round._

Kate ran herself a bath and relaxed for about 30 minutes just soaking in the warmth, she then put on a comfortable pair of leggings and a loose shirt. She wasn't dressed up but she didn't look bad either. She had washed her make up off in the bathtub but wasn't sure she was ready for Castle to see her completely without make up so she put on just some basics.

She quickly pulled out some left overs from the previous night and had something to eat. She had just finished when she heard a knock at the door which she opened to a delightfully cheerful Castle.

Castle took in her relaxed state immediately, "I hope I'm not interfering with any plans you had. You know you didn't have to say yes."

Beckett smiled. "Well, my plan was for a bath and to read, something relaxing, you know. So, now I've had my bath and can relax with the movie rather than the book."

She opened the door wider to let him in, noticing that once again he had not turned up empty handed and had a bag in his hand, although she couldn't see what was inside and there was no real distinct smell coming from it. Castle immediately made his way through to the lounge. Kate followed close behind taking in the sight in front of her. She found the view from behind Castle quite appealing.

"So, have you eaten Beckett?" Castle asked, turning to face her.

"Um yeah," she said snapping her head up so she wouldn't be caught staring at his behind. "But I can see that you have brought something with you again."

"Well, I couldn't turn up empty handed, I had to bring something. So I brought ice cream."

"Ice cream sounds great, I'll just get us some bowls and spoons," Beckett said making her way through to the kitchen.

"Who needs bowls when you can eat from the tub? Unless of course you're not good at sharing."

Kate didn't immediately respond but as she returned with two spoons she made her way over to where Castle had made himself comfortable, placed one hand on his thigh and leant in close so her lips almost grazed his ear as she spoke.

"Oh, I'm very good at sharing Castle." As she stood up she dragged her hand slowly along his thigh and felt his muscles tighten.

Castle was left speechless. He did not expect that at all. Not only was her hand on his thigh, it had been high on his thigh and her lips were so close. He took in a gasp of air and stared at the detective as she picked up the remote control and took a seat next to him. Not too close that their legs were touching but close enough to be able to feel the heat from each others' bodies.

As the movie started Kate pulled her coffee table a little closer so they didn't have to hold the ice cream in their hands and could reach for it whenever they wanted some, but after what Kate had done to Castle, he had other ideas. The movie had barely even started when Castle dropped his spoon next to him and it fell between the side of the sofa and the cushion.

"Oh, I dropped my ice cream spoon," he said pouting his bottom lip.

Kate shook her head at him. "I'll go get you another one," she said standing up, but Castle had grabbed hold of her arm and stopped her.

"No need to do that. You said you were good at sharing. There's still one spoon here, I'll just share your spoon," he said.

Beckett turned back to look at him with a stunned expression on her face and all Castle could do was smile back at her. He was right though, she did say she was very good at sharing. But she hadn't meant sharing a spoon. There was a moment of silence before Castle spoke again.

"Maybe you're not so good at sharing after all then?"

"Oh, I can share," she said. He was not going to win.

She sat back down on the sofa, quite a bit closer than she was previously and she felt him sit upright and his whole body tensed as soon as her leg touched his own.

"Sharing a spoon and ice cream," Castle said, "not my place on the sofa." He was trying to make a joke just to calm himself down.

The heat from their bodies was electric and it wasn't long before Kate felt butterflies in her stomach. She had to really focus on her breathing so she didn't stutter while she spoke.

"Really? I thought you would want me to share your place on the sofa, Castle?" she managed to say calmly. There was no doubt about it, Kate was winning this battle. Castle was starting to feel very nervous but, he was loving every minute of it.

Castle swallowed unable to say anything in return.

"I just figured since we were sharing the ice cream, I should be a little closer. I can't have you eating it all yourself. I wanted to make sure I got my bit too." Kate continued.

She picked up the ice cream from the table and dipped her spoon in and held it out for Castle.

"What? You're going to feed me now?" Castle asked.

"I'm sharing," she smiled, not actually expecting that he would allow her to feed him. But he did. The next thing she knew his mouth was over the spoon and taking the ice cream in his mouth. He was taking his time about it too, taking back some of the power that he had lost to Beckett. He smiled as she stiffened next to him.

That was all the fun they needed to have for the moment, they were both aware that they other was a serious player in whatever game it was they were playing.

"We're missing the beginning of the movie," Castle said realising that they had not been paying any attention to it.

"Oh, yeah, the movie," Kate said settling herself back into the sofa but not moving away from Castle.

During the first part of the movie they took turns with the ice cream, each taking a spoonful here and there, back to feeding only themselves.

Castle had picked out a zombie thriller movie. He had almost picked up a romantic comedy but decided that he would save it for a later date. Who didn't love a zombie thriller anyway? Not only that, but he thought if it got a little scary, Beckett may have no choice but to curl into him to hide from the terror on the screen. And he was right.

It wasn't until half way through the movie that it really began to get scary, and he could feel Beckett inching her way closer and closer to his chest. They were already sitting close but he could feel her getting closer. He took his arm and placed it over her shoulder to make her feel safe, and he got a shock when he felt her hands grab at his hand pulling it in closer to her body, so that she herself became closer to his chest.

At one point, she had turned to hide her face in his chest. By this point, Castle was barely even watching the movie. He was too entertained by this woman sitting next to him. The amazingly strong detective was maybe not as strong when it came to scary movies.

When Kate had turned into his chest she didn't want to leave. He smelt amazing and was he felt like he would be a great cuddly pillow. So when she felt the movie was less scary, instead of moving away, she lightly placed her head on his shoulder, and stayed snuggled in close.

Kate left her head on his shoulder for the rest of the movie which he thought was rather cute, until he realised she was asleep, then he didn't know what to do. He knew staying the night would be the wrong move. Sure, she'd been extremely flirty but staying, even if he stayed on the sofa may have been pushing things a little far. He thought about carrying her to bed but then again, he thought that could look bad if she woke up while he was setting her down. He thought that would most likely just result in a slap to the face. His only other option was to wake her.

"Beckett?" he said softly. No response. "Kate?" he shook her a little and this time woke her. "You fell asleep, but I didn't want you to stay out here or you'll be sore in the morning. So off you go to bed, I can let myself out," he said smiling.

"Thanks Castle. And for the ice cream and movie, I enjoyed it," she said sleepily.

"What you saw of it. You were hiding through most of it," he joked knowing she was too sleepy to argue. "Goodnight Beckett, I hope to see you again in the morning. I'll have a coffee waiting."

Beckett smiled and walked Castle to the door. She knows he said he'd let himself out, but she had to go lock the door after him anyway. She watched as once again he made his way down the corridor, locked the door and made her way to bed unable to remove the smile from her lips.


	15. Chapter 15

Kate woke early the next morning and found herself fighting a battle internally. A part of her was enjoying where her friendship was going with Castle, but there was also a part of her that was scared and wasn't sure it was right for her to continue to pursue anything with him.

Sure, he was funny, he seemed to cared, they had fun together, he wasn't a complete jack ass all the time, but she was still slightly worried about his past. Was he really not that guy that she would read about so often? How could she be sure? Could she really open her heart up to a guy knowing that he's possibly just going to get what he wants and then leave?

She hadn't been so worried the night before while she flirted with him, and snuggled up next to him on the sofa, so what made her worry now. After some time questioning herself she realised what it was that made her worry more than usual. Her feelings were growing for the man. She actually really liked him, and wanted things to progress. Before last night, she would have been happy for him to walk away, she thinks she would have been okay with that, but now, she wants to see more and more of him, she wants to know what it would feel like to have his lips on her own, she wants to know how it would feel for his hands to be gliding over her body. She wanted Castle! She sat upright suddenly at the realisation. She needed to talk to Lanie.

When Kate heard Lanie's voice on the other end of the phone she was thankful that she hadn't woken her.

She explained to Lanie everything that was going through her head, not letting Lanie get a word in until she had finished.

"Where is all this coming from girl? Have you been dreaming of writer boy all night or something?" Lanie asked.

"No, he was here last night and I don't know, we had such a great time, but now I'm worried."

"Hold up, what..? He was there last night?"

"We watched a movie Lanie, then he went home."

"Are you sure you just watched a movie?" Lanie teased.

"Yes," Kate said seriously.

"Right well you know what I think girl," Lanie started. "I think you need to give him a chance. It sounds like he likes you, and he's been to your place twice now and both times has left in his own time, not waiting for you to tell him to leave, and not trying to stay. He's being a gentleman. I think if he was the person the papers make him out to be, you would know by now, he would have tried something."

"Maybe you're right," Kate said thoughtfully. "I'll just be careful. Thanks. I should probably get ready for work then."

"Will I be seeing you this morning?," Lanie asked teasingly.

"I don't know. See ya Lanie." Kate hung up quickly before Lanie could say anything further.

Getting ready for work she still couldn't get Castle off her mind. Should she go in and get the coffee this morning, or would it be better for her to not go in at all? If she was going to walk away, she'd be better off walking away sooner rather than later. She didn't want to be hurt herself but she also didn't want to be the cause of him being hurt. Then again, she couldn't be sure that she would get hurt if she continued getting to know Castle. Even Lanie was sure he wasn't the guy the papers made him out to be. Maybe she was being crazy. She should just give him a chance like Lanie said.

* * *

Lanie was telling Castle everything she knew about the victim that she had discovered the previous afternoon but she could tell that she didn't have his full attention. He kept looking at the door like he was waiting for someone to walk through it, and Lanie knew exactly who he was expecting.

"Castle, maybe she's busy, she probably just had to get to work and doesn't have time to stop by."

"Who?" Castle asked, trying to act like he had no idea what Lanie was talking about.

"C'mon Castle. I know you're waiting for detective Beckett to come through that door so you can give her that coffee. She's got a case she needs to solve, maybe something came up over night and she's following a lead this morning."

"You know something don't you Lanie? Did I scare her off? She's not coming is she?" Castle said disappointed. He really thought that after last night, Beckett wouldn't be able to stop herself from coming by to see him. Maybe he was wrong.

"I don't know." Lanie felt bad for the guy. She could see the hurt in his eyes as he realised that Kate was not coming. She could sense the rejection he was feeling, and wished she could do something or say something to make it better, but there was nothing she could do. It was up to Kate. Kate had to decide what she wanted and whether she was willing to give him a chance.

A few minutes later, while Lanie was retelling Castle everything about the case, all over again, Kate walked into the morgue. Of course, Castle was the first one to notice her.

"Beckett," he said with a hint of relief and happiness. "I didn't think you were coming."

He quickly jumped up from where he was sitting and almost skipped over to where her coffee was waiting. He felt the outside hoping that it hadn't gone cold in the time that it had been sitting there, and luckily it still felt hot. He'd written a small note on the side of the cup that he had tried to keep hidden from Lanie all morning. He wrote it for Beckett, so he was careful not to have it show when he handed it over, he wanted her to see it later, when Lanie wasn't around. He wasn't aware of the conversation the two women had before work that day.

"Sorry, I'm running late. I can't really stay, but I thought I'd come by for the coffee. Thanks," she said taking the cup.

As soon as Kate had her coffee in her hand she had turned and was walking out the door.

Castle was a little shocked. It was like Kate almost didn't care that he was there and just wanted the coffee but Lanie knew Kate better than that. It was obvious that Kate was running late, but the fact that she had even come in at all said more than Castle realised. Lanie knew this meant Kate was not running from him. Taking the coffee from him was her saying, 'yes, I'm going to keep at this and see where it goes.'

Castle looked from the doorway to Lanie unsure of what just happened, but Lanie just gave him a look that said 'go get her'. So that's what he did. He ran out the door and after Beckett before she could leave.

He caught up with her not far down the corrider and had been running so fast that he almost ran into her. Beckett heard the footsteps behind her, so she turned just as Castle put on the brakes to his feet, stopping right in front of her.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

He remembered back to the night before, tried to remember if he had said or done anything wrong. He couldn't think of anything. He was a complete gentleman, at least, that's what he thought.

Kate could see the concern in his eyes and could hear it in his voice. He really was worried. He was in this just as much as she was. She didn't know what it was but if was obvious he cared.

"Yes Castle, everything is fine," she reached out and placed her hand on his arm to show him some comfort and to prove that she wasn't running from whatever their relationship was, "I just really am running late." She couldn't help but notice the feel of his muscles under his shirt. The night before as she snuggled into his chest during the movie she could tell he had a toned body but she did not expect his arms to feel as good as they did. A part of her wanted to run her hand up his arm to feel more but she knew she had to stop before she got too distracted.

"You'd tell me if I did something?" he asked.

"Yes. Look, I really have to go if I want to get this case solved. If we solve it today, I'll have tomorrow off which means Friday night drinks tonight, and I can stay a little late. Wanna join me and the guys?"

"You're actually inviting me this time? I don't have to beg Lanie."

"Yes, will I see you there?"

"Of course, I'll be there. Call me when you finish."

"Will do, see you later," she called over her shoulder as she walked away leaving Castle in the corridor.

"_She likes me_," Castle thought to himself. "_She really really likes me._" And once again, he couldn't help but smile as he walked back into the room where Lanie was waiting.

It wasn't until Kate had left the building that she noticed the note on the side of the cup.

_"I enjoyed sharing with you last night. Let's share some more again soon."_

The message made her smile. This guy was unbelievable. Was he really trying to flirt with notes on a coffee?


	16. Chapter 16

Castle hadn't seen Beckett all day since the morning. Lanie sent him home at the end of the day and he was unsure if Beckett and her team had solved the case or not. He thought about sending a text message but decided not to be annoying. She said she would call, and he trusted her. So when he got home, he sat by his phone just waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for the invite to drinks.

It was after 8pm when his phone finally rang and he was excited when it was Beckett's name showing on the screen.

"Castle," he answered.

"Hey Castle, sorry I haven't called sooner but, we haven't solved the case. We're still following up a few leads, we could be at the precinct for a while."

"Oh really? Stuck at work on a Friday night, that sucks."

"All part of the job. So we'll get drinks another time?"

"Yeah," he said sounding a little deflated. "I hope you get the bad guy soon."

"Me too Castle, me too! I'll let you know if we catch him tomorrow"

"Great, night detective."

"Night," Kate finished the call and hung up.

Castle was a little saddened. He was looking forward to another evening with Beckett and the boys. Then, he had an idea.

* * *

Beckett had been going over a bunch of reports for a couple of hours with the other detectives. They were determined to get this case solved. So determined they barely even stopped to eat, not even realising they were actually hungry.

It was about 30 minutes after Beckett had called Castle when they saw the elevator doors open and to their surprise, he walked out with bags full of food. Beckett laughed inwardly. This is the third night in a row he has turned up with bags of food. Last night was just ice cream, but it was still food.

Noticing the look on Beckett's face which was pretty much saying 'I can't believe you've brought me food again', he smiled and shrugged.

When he got closer to the group of them, he finally spoke.

"I found myself with nothing to do at the loft and thought I could be useful. I figured if you guys were stuck here all night, you probably didn't have time to get dinner, so I brought it to you."

"Thanks man," Esposito said getting up from his seat, taking a bag from Castle and patting him on the shoulder to show his appreciation.

Ryan and Beckett looked to each other and without saying a word decided they might as well take a break to eat. Kate picked up some of the paper in front of them, she thought she could still keep reading a little while she ate dinner.

The group made their way into the break room where there was more room to set out the food.

"I got a bit of everything here," Castle said setting a few containers on the table. "I wasn't sure what you guys would like."

"You're not kidding you got a bit of everything," Ryan said. "There's enough here to feed a herd of elephants."

The three others in the room all immediately looked at Ryan raising their eyebrows.

"Okay, so maybe not a herd of elephants. But there's a lot here."

They all sat down grabbing a container each and started their meal. Kate had the papers she had picked up and was holding them with one hand in front of her as if she was reading, but she was actually looking over the top of the papers and watching Castle as he conversed with the other two detectives.

He hadn't really gotten to work with them much but the way they got along it was like they had been life long friends. They made jokes and he had both Ryan and Esposito smiling and laughing the entire time they ate. She should have been annoyed that he had distracted them from work but she wasn't. As she sat their watching him, she felt the butterflies growing in her stomach. It had been a while since any man had caused that feeling before.

Castle caught the detective watching him but for a while pretended he hadn't noticed. She was trying her best not to show how she was feeling, but he could see straight past it. He saw the way she fidgeted in her seat, the way she played with her hair, and how she bit into her bottom lip almost like she was nervous.

"So Beckett," Castle eventually said. "Found anything interesting in those papers?"

He had noticed that she hadn't actually looked down at the page since picking it up, he wasn't sure if the other boys had noticed, but they were soon going to find out.

"Oh," Beckett snapped out of the trance she had been in and looked down at the paper in front of her. "No not really, nothing new showing up here."

"What's wrong Beckett?" Esposito asked. "You're looking a little distracted."

Beckett went to kick Esposito under the table but as soon as she had kicked out her foot, Castle let out a loud squeal.

"What was that for?" he asked. Beckett had kicked the wrong leg under the table.

"Sorry Castle, I was aiming for Esposito," she said through gritted teeth while glaring at the other detective.

Castle took one hand from above the table and started rubbing his leg. "Those heels of yours are a good weapon. They could do some serious damage."

Kate felt bad, she had completely forgotten about the heels she was wearing, luckily they weren't as high as some of the heels she wore, but they could still be quite dangerous. She hadn't kicked too hard and she really hoped she hadn't pierced any skin with them. She knew Castle was probably exaggerating, but just to be safe she walked over to the freezer and took out an ice pack. It would at least minimize any bruising she may have caused. On her way back to the table, she noticed Ryan and Esposito had gotten up and were starting to pack away the leftovers and rubbish.

Kate pulled a chair over closer to Castle and sat down. "I am sorry Castle. I didn't mean to injure you. Here, where did I get you?"

Castle pushed his chair out and lifted his leg up and onto another chair beside him. He was tempted to put it on Beckett's lap but wasn't sure exactly how she would respond. He pulled the bottom of his pants up slightly to display where she had kicked him.

She must have kicked harder than she thought. He already looked like he had a bruise appearing. Beckett took the ice pack and placed it on his leg, feeling him tense beneath her fingertips. She wasn't sure if it was due to the cold on his leg, or the fact that she once again was touching him.

"Well, this should stop the bruising," she said holding the ice pack to his leg.

They stayed there silently for a couple of minutes, trying to decide on their next move.

"I should probably get back to work now," Kate said breaking the silence. "This case isn't going to solve itself."

Castle pouted, "but I'm still in pain, you can't just leave me injured."

"It's a bruise, you'll be fine." Kate said seriously.

"You know what always fixes an injury?"

"What Castle?"

Castle didn't say anything he just puckered up his lips making a kiss sound.

Beckett looked at him with her eyebrows raised but made no movement, and all he could do was smirk.

"You know, when you're a kid, a kiss makes everything better."

"Well, off you go home to your mother and daughter then, I'm sure they'll kiss it better." She had meant to keep a serious expression on her face, but couldn't help it and she let out a smile. She took the ice pack from his leg, washed it and placed it back in the freezer.

"Right, I guess I should be going then," Castle said realising he wasn't going to get that kiss.

"What? You're not going to try and convince me to let you stay and help?"

"You're going to let me?" Castle exclaimed with excitement.

"No. Goodnight Castle." Kate turned and walked out of the break room making her way to her desk without another word.

As Castle walked past the two male detectives they thanked him once again for the food, and then he said goodnight to everyone. While he stood waiting at the elevator Ryan and Esposito were both glaring at Beckett mouthing for her go, make a move. She was doing her best to ignore it, but just as the elevator doors opened in front of Castle, she got up and called out to him. She was going to take the boys advice.

"Wait Castle, I think you forgot something," she briskly walked towards him.

When Castle turned she was standing right in front of him.

"I forgot something?" Castle questioned. "What did I forget?"

Kate bit her bottom lip suddenly feeling the butterflies rise in her stomach again. "You forgot to ask me out to dinner tomorrow." she said softly. Loud enough for only Castle to hear and she kept her head down, only lifting her eyes to look at him.

"So I did," Castle said and placed the index finger of his right hand under Beckett's chin to lift her face to look up at him. "Would you like to join me for dinner tomorrow detective?"

Kate grinned like a shy school girl. "I'd love to."

Castle took his hand away. "Until tomorrow then, " and he pressed the elevator button again. The doors opened in front of him immediately and he stepped in, turning around to give Beckett one last smile.

Once the doors had closed, Kate turned around to face the boys who had just watched the scene before them with interest.

"Ok, let's solve this case then," she said getting herself back into serious work mode.


	17. Chapter 17

**I know some of you are waiting for that dinner date... well, it starts here, but it's not the full date... SORRY! I will possibly update the next chapter within the hour. I have this habit of always just wanting to get the last parts of my story out. ****  
**

**Enjoy! And as always, I don't own Castle.  
**

* * *

Castle was once again getting dressed and ready to go have another dinner with Detective Beckett. Due to nerves his mouth was feeling quite dry, although he wouldn't admit that it was nerves causing it. He went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and Alexis was sitting reading at the table carefully watching him.

"So dad? You're seeing the detective again? How many nights in a row is it now?" she teased. "And you haven't kissed her yet?"

She knew that her father had an image, and she knew that not everything the papers said was true, but she also knew that it was unusual for him to have had more than 2 nights with a woman without trying something.

"Alexis, you know I don't kiss and tell."

"No, you don't. But your face tells stories that you don't, dad. And we can always tell…"

"Oh, no no no, please don't continue," Castle interrupted. He really didn't want to know what his daughter could read from his behaviour. He told himself he was going to have to be more careful in the future though. Of course, he was aware that Alexis knew he was a grown man and he had a personal, sometimes romantic, life, but he didn't really want to think about it.

"So, should I be worried? I don't want to hear about more of my fathers antics from people at school because of something they read in the paper again."

"Don't worry Alexis. I'm trying to stay away from cameras. I don't think she would like them in her face so much. So, your friends wont be reading anything about me if I have anything to say about it."

"So, you mean to tell me," Alexis said surprised, "the detective doesn't want to be associated with you in the paper? She's not agreeing to go out with you just to get her own name in print?"

"No," Castle lightly kissed his daughter on her forehead. "Detective Beckett is different. I'm really not sure what it is about her but she's intriguing, interesting. I just, I want to get to know her more. She's got a past and there's a story there. I don't know the story yet, but it's there, and I want her to trust me enough to share it with me. Taking her in front of cameras isn't going to build trust between us at all. She's inspiring and I don't want to lose that."

The young girl watched her father speak with such truth and honesty. She could sense that he cared deeply for the detective.

Castle continued, " I think she is driven by something that has happened in the past. I haven't actually seen her at work all that much, but from what Lanie tells me, she's very focused and is a damn good detective."

"So, you want to get to know her?"

"Yeah, but I also want her to know there's more to me than the image that the papers put out there. We both know they make up stories, but I want her to get to know the real me."

Alexis was quite surprised at the conversation. She had never seen her dad so serious about a woman before. And he was talking like he was all grown up. It happened but he wasn't usually this open. He had been serious with Gina, he married her, but this was so different. This was probably the most grown up she had seen her dad in years.

"And you're sure she's not just agreeing to see you because of who you are? She's not just interested in your money or your lifestyle?"

"Not at all," he said as he washed his glass over at the sink.

"Dad, you really like this one?"

"Yeah, I think I do." He stood silently at the sink lost in his thoughts. He was actually quite surprised he had just shared so much with Alexis. He knew he liked Beckett but it wasn't until he spoke with his daughter that he realised just how much he liked her. It wasn't just a silly little game, he seriously liked her.

Alexis had walked up behind her dad and wrapped her arms around his waist giving him a hug from behind. Castle unwrapped her arms from his body and turned to look at her smiling.

"Good luck dad," she said reaching up on her toes and kissing him on the cheek.

They both walked to the front door and Castle stepped out ready to meet the detective.

"Goodnight Alexis, love you"

"Goodnight dad. Don't do anything stupid okay," she said as she closed the door and Castle made his way to the elevator, both nervous and excited about the night ahead of him.

When Kate opened the door, she was greeted with a beautiful bunch of flowers and a smiling Castle.

Castle was dressed all in black and he looked more handsome than she thought possible. The smile on his face made him look like a cute little boy, and she once again found herself wondering what it would be like to have his lips on hers, but she had to wipe any thoughts like that from her head if she was going to make it through the night. As much as she liked the guy, she didn't want to just jump into something. She wanted to make sure it was right, she wanted to take her time. And there was also the worry that if she made any big moves herself it would give Castle the wrong impression. She could see that he had been very careful himself, and was also not trying to rush into anything. She figured she would know when the time was right to make the next move, and standing in her doorway before their date was not the right time.

"Hi. No food this time?" Kate said noticing, there was no bags in Castle's hands, just the flowers.

"Just the flowers for you."

"Thank you Castle. So, we're eating out tonight? You're not worried about the cameras this time?"

"Well, I am a little, but I can't expect you to stay in your apartment again with me, I thought we could at least try going out. It's a Saturday night, so I'm sure the paparazzi have more exciting people to follow tonight. We'll find somewhere quiet and if we see cameras, we'll leave."

"Really? How bout we just stay in my area, it's quiet. I don't think they'll find you."

"Oh, I don't know," said Castle. "If anyone hears that I'm out with a gorgeous woman, such as yourself, they'll come and find me. And once one has found me, they'll all find me."

Kate blushed at Castle's compliment. "Ok, how about we just go across the road. There's a quiet little restaurant there. If there are camera's, I'll leave you there to get some food and I'll come back here and wait for you to return. But if there's no cameras we stay there. The staff are lovely, they wont say anything if we ask them not to."

Castle agreed and then followed her a few steps into the apartment while she found a vase for the flowers. He watched her make her way around the apartment. She really was gorgeous. She was wearing a fitted blue bandage dress that showed off her curves and her legs. With her bare neck showing, it felt like it was almost begging to be shown some attention, but he had promised himself he was going to continue taking things slow. He wasn't going to scare Beckett off, although if she was to make a move on him first, he wasn't going to push her away.

Beckett found a vase, half filled it with water and placed the flowers inside. "Thanks for these Castle," she said. "They're beautiful"

"No where near as beautiful as you look tonight," Castle said making his way towards her. Without realising what he was doing he slowly made his way closer and closer. It wasn't until he was standing right in front of the detective he realised that he had even moved. Their bodies were so close there was barely a centimeter between them.

He had done it again. Kate found herself blushing and this time she couldn't hide it.

Kate had a few strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face, so he gently pushed it them behind her ear.

"Oh, Beckett, you're so cute when you get embarrassed."

"Shut up Castle! Or I'll send you home before we're able to go anywhere," she breathed out much less forcefully than she had planned.

"You wouldn't do that to poor little me, would you? Really?"

She looked up and into his eyes, he was really close. It wouldn't take much for her to finally get a taste of those lips. But she couldn't do it, not like this. He was teasing her, he was trying to see how far he could push her, and she wasn't going to let him win, or was she?

She ran her hands up his chest and watched as his eyes moved from her looking into her own eyes then down to her lips and then back to her eyes. She could feel his breathing increase and could have sworn his heartbeat was speeding up, much like her own.

When her hands reached his shoulders she gently pushed him away. "Don't tempt me," she said.

"Oh, I think I'm tempting you in other ways detective. You don't want to send me home at all."

Kate simply pushed past Castle and walked over to the table to collect her keys. She had no response to his teasing. She would wait until later to get him back.

"C'mon, let's go get some food. I'm hungry."

Castle thought about making a joke about her being hungry but decided he had done enough for now, and it was time for him to behave again. He walked over to Beckett who was still waiting at the door and presented his elbow to her. She gladly took it, placing her arm through his. She locked the door behind them and they were finally on their way to dinner.


	18. Chapter 18

**Well, this didn't take me as long as I thought to edit... so here you go. Dinner for two.**

* * *

When the pair reached the restaurant across the road Castle almost didn't want to enter. Going inside meant Beckett would be letting go of his arm. He liked that she was so close, that he could feel her right next to him, he wasn't sure he was ready to let her go yet. He would have taken her for a walk, but he had to remember there were possibly cameras about. He didn't want cameras to ruin their night.

Castle held the door open, letting go of Beckett's arm with a sigh, and followed her into the restaurant.

The place wasn't very busy, which was surprising for a Saturday night. Castle guessed that people were probably out at more popular places and he didn't mind one bit that it wasn't crowded. In fact, he was thankful. It meant he didn't have to try and hide so much.

They were greeted almost immediately at the door by the maître d' who recognised Castle instantly.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm sure you get this all the time but you look a lot like that writer…"

Castle held out his hand before the guy could finish his sentence. "Richard Castle."

The maître d' took his hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Castle. Dinner for two?"

"Yes thank you," Castle responded. "And I would appreciate this to be kept quiet. I'd really like to get through dinner without cameras."

"Not a problem sir. If you'd like to come with me, there's a nice table in the corner with your name on it."

He led Castle and Beckett over to a nice table which was tucked away in the corner. It wasn't until Castle held out the seat for Beckett that the maître d' even noticed it was the detective with him. He had seen her many times before, usually she was there on her own so it was a surprise to see her there with someone else, especially someone like Richard Castle.

"Why, detective Beckett? How are you?" he said. "I didn't know you knew Richard Castle"

Castle could see that Beckett was feeling a little uncomfortable and did not know how to respond so he responded for her.

"She didn't know me until this week. I'm doing research with the NYPD for a new book. Detective Beckett here has been nice enough to share stories with me, so I thought the least I could do was buy dinner to say thanks."

With Beckett now sitting comfortably, Castle took his seat and the maître d' said a waiter would be over shortly. Beckett gave Castle a small smile to say thanks for taking over with the talking and then started fiddling with the napkin that was sitting on the table. She wasn't expecting the staff to recognise Castle and was now feeling more nervous than she thought possible.

Castle noticed her fiddling and placed one of his hands on the table over hers. "Hey, if you're uncomfortable being here with me, we don't have to stay."

Kate looked at their joined hands then back up at Castle. "No, it's okay. I just, I wasn't expecting him to know you, you know."

"Yeah, it doesn't happen all the time, but it happens. Sorry."

"There's no need to be sorry. Let's just have some dinner and enjoy our evening. Forget the others around us."

At that point the waiter came to their table and Kate quickly pulled her hand away from Castle's. The waiter asked if they would like some wine, and returned a few minutes later with a bottle to pour them each a glass. While there he took their orders and told them they wouldn't be long.

While they waited for their entrées Beckett told Castle about the case they had been working on and told him how they managed to catch the killer.

They had both ordered soup for their entrée and ate in silence occasionally glancing up to take a look at each other.

When their mains came Beckett made the decision to start talking about what it was they were doing, this dating thing. What it meant? Did it mean anything? She had been avoiding the conversation but she knew they had to talk eventually.

"Look Castle, I'm going to be completely honest with you," she started which gained an almost frightened look from Castle as he dropped his cutlery on the table. "Don't worry Castle, no need to be scared. I just, I need to know what this is?"

"This, my dear detective, is dinner."

Kate rolled her eyes and giggled, "I know what this is, I mean, I need to know what _this _is," she said pointing between herself and him.

"Well, I'm not sure right now what it is, but I know what I want it to become."

Kate took a mouthful of dinner demonstrating to Castle that she wanted him to keep talking.

"I know I have this image, a playboy image, but it's not a good one. And I want you to know, that's not who I am. I want you to get to know me, if _you_ want to get to know me. And I kinda hope that you like the person you find."

Kate smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well this is weird. You know I've not really ever had this conversation with anyone before. I've just gone with the flow, but you're different. It's because of the papers and because of the person they make you out to be that I've been a little unsure. But, I'm enjoying this time with you, and…" she looked down at her food biting her bottom lip.

Castle knew by now that this was her sign of nervousness, so again he placed his hand over hers to let her know he wasn't going anywhere and that she was safe.

"I'd like for me to get to know you too," Beckett finished.

Castle couldn't help but plaster a big smile across his face.

"Just so you know," Castle started again, "I think you are an amazing woman, extraordinary even. You intrigue me, and I've been enjoying this time with you also."

By now, Kate had a smile that matched Castle's, and she maneuvered her hand that was beneath Castle's so their finger interlocked representing a change in their relationship. It was an agreement between the two of them to show they were both in this, and they both wanted it.

The two continued to eat their dinners making small conversation. Kate had asked how Alexis was and once again was surprised as Castle spoke of her. He was a good father, she couldn't understand how any woman, especially the woman of his daughter, would leave him.

At one point Beckett excused herself to go to the bathroom. She wasn't gone long but when she returned she noticed there were a couple of people standing around the table where Castle was sitting. She guessed they were fans that had recognised him, and she could see that Castle was enjoying the attention.

She stood back and watched him for a minute when the maître d' came up to her again.

"So, it's nice to see you with someone Detective. I can see he makes you happy. Don't let him get away will you?" he said.

Kate was surprised. Was her happiness really that obvious? "Yeah, I'll try not to," she responded.

She continued to watch Castle and saw that he was looking around, obviously trying to find her, and when he did he excused himself from the group and made his way to join her, walking her back to the table. As he did so the group disappeared leaving them along again.

"Sorry," he said. "They were fans."

"That's okay" Beckett said. "You looked like you were in your element with them. Enjoying the attention."

"I'd rather have your attention tonight," he smiled as he walked Beckett back to her seat.

He pulled the chair out for her but before moving to take his own seat her leant over the detectives shoulder and placed a kiss on her cheek but as he did so he saw a flash come from one side of the restaurant. He excused himself and left Kate alone while he went to talk to the guy with the camera.

A few moments later he came back to the table with the camera in his hands.

As he sat Beckett asked, "Why do you have that young mans camera?"

"Don't worry, I paid a good amount of money for it. It was the only way I could make sure no photos of us would appear in tomorrows paper, but more people could be on their way. What do you say we take our desserts to go?"

"Sounds good to me," Beckett said. She was impressed with the way Castle had dealt with the situation. He stayed calm and didn't cause a scene. He was full of surprises.

Castle called their waiter over and asked for them to bring the dessert in containers to go, and also for the cheque. The waiter soon returned with two small desserts, and put the bill on the table. After paying and leaving a very generous tip Castle helped Beckett out of her seat and held out his hand to her.

Beckett picked up her bag and gladly took Castle's hand. She could feel people looking at them as they left the restaurant which made her feel a little embarrassed. She didn't really like all the attention, especially when the relationship with Castle was still so new to herself.

"You ok?" Castle asked as they reached the door.

"Yeah," she said as he let go of her hand to open the door.

Once they were outside he wrapped his arm over her shoulders and she had never felt so safe in her life, so she returned the sentiment and placed her arm behind his back around his waist. She knew Castle was happy with the move when he pulled her closer as they crossed the road to go back to her apartment.

* * *

**I have one more chapter.. and I'm hoping to have it up in just a short while. I know you're all waiting for it, and well I can't find it within me to be mean and hold onto it for a whole day... so it will be up shortly. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Well, here you go. The final part of the story...**

* * *

Kate unlocked the door to her apartment and led the way in, taking her shoes off at the door and making herself more comfortable.

"Would you like another drink with your dessert?" Kate asked. "I'm sure I've got a nice dessert wine somewhere."

"Sure, that'd be great," Castle responded. "I'll come help you."

Kate looked through her kitchen and found a wine while Castle found 2 glasses. They poured themselves a drink and then took their dessert and drinks to the lounge area.

Beckett led they way and placed her drink down on the coffee table. Instead of sitting on the sofa, she took a seat on the floor leaning her back on the chair behind her.

"The floor?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, it's actually quite comfortable, you should try it out," she said tapping the spot next to her.

Castle followed and sat down on the floor next to her. He was happy to be sitting side by side with her again, close enough that their shoulders were touching and he was pleased when she didn't pull away. He picked up one of the desserts, a slice of strawberry cheesecake, and took a small amount on the small plastic spoon. He held it out for Beckett and she happily accepted it, licking her lips slowly after she swallowed. "Mmmm, that's amazing. You should try it" she said.

Castle could take his eyes off her but did as she said, and tried some himself, agreeing completely that it was amazing.

Castle continued to share the dessert with Beckett taking some for himself and offering some to her. They talked about Castle's books and the attention that he receives. Kate was amazed at the stories that Castle had about book signings and crazy fans. She still wasn't willing to tell him exactly how much of a fan she was, she thought she would keep that information for another day.

It wasn't long before they had finished their dessert but Kate wasn't ready for Castle to leave, she wanted him to stay a little longer. She was enjoying his company, and she didn't have to go to work the next day. She spotted a pack of cards on the table in front of her.

"So, feel like playing a game of cards?"

"That depends what we're playing."

"How about poker?"

"Oooooh are you sure you want to take me on? That is my card game specialty," Castle said raising his eyebrows.

"You're on now Castle. Be ready to meet your match," she teased.

"What are we playing for?"

"I'm pretty sure I can find something," Beckett said getting up and walking to the kitchen.

She came back a few minutes later with a bag of Hershies Kisses.

"Will these do?" she asked holding up the bag.

"Oh, they are perfect."

Beckett and Castle rearranged themselves on the floor so they were no longer side by side, but opposite one another so they couldn't see each others cards.

They made up slightly different rules for their game, so that when someone won a round it just meant they won a chocolate.

They played a number of games, each of them winning some and losing some and occasionally eating some of their winnings.

On their final round Castle was dealt a horrible set of cards, he knew there was no way to win but he was going to try and bluff his way through it. Unfortunately, it didn't work. It seemed she had received a much better hand than he had and was not backing down. It was no surprise when they turned their cards over and she won the final chocolate but before she could pick it up, Castle stole it from in front of her and started unwrapping it.

"Hey," Kate said, slapping his shoulder, "that's mine. I won that fair and square."

"I know." Castle said with a smile. "I'm just helping you. Close your eyes."

Kate looked at him with curiosity. "Why?"

"Just trust me," he responded.

Kate thought about it for a few seconds and then decided to do as he asked. Really, she had nothing to be afraid of. There wasn't much he could do. She was sitting with her back leaning against the chair behind her again and she closed her eyes. She could hear Castle shuffling around but she was unsure what he was doing.

"Castle," she opened one eye, "What are you doing?"

He stopped moving when he noticed she had opened her eye. "Shhh" he said. "Close your eyes."

Beckett closed her open eye again, and once more heard Castle moving around. She almost jumped when she felt his arm brush past her leg. At least, she was telling herself she jumped from the unexpected touch, and she hadn't shivered at the contact. She felt the couch slightly dip next to her and guessed that he had moved himself to be sitting next to her again.

Castle took the chocolate and slowly grazed it along Becketts lips making her open her mouth slightly hoping Castle was going to feed it to her, but then he took it away.

"Uh uh uh, not so fast," Castle said.

Beckett licked her lips and keeping here eyes closed, she once again waited. It wasn't long before she felt the chocolate on her lips once again, but still Castle was not letting her take it completely.

"C'mon Castle, don't leave me hanging. That's my kiss and I want it now"

"Oh really?" Castle said placing the chocolate on the table quietly.

He inched closer to Beckett and gently placed his lips on hers, she still tasted a little of chocolate and felt so good on his lips. It was gentle and sweet, just enough to get a little taste of the woman in front of him. He was going to pull back when he felt Becketts hand snake around his neck and she pulled him in closer, her tongue begging for entrance into his mouth which he gladly allowed.

The position he was in was quite uncomfortable and he had to pull back much earlier than he would have liked, but he didn't want to remember their first real kiss being uncomfortable.

"Wow, that was amazing," Castle said. "So much better than I imagined."

"Really Castle," Beckett had finally opened her eyes. "There's plenty more where that came from," and with that she lifted one leg over Castle to straddle him and she was once again face to face with the writer.

Castle's eyes widened as he looked at the gorgeous woman now sitting over his lap. He lifted his hands to her face and pulled her in for another long kiss. This one not as gentle as the first, their two mouths fighting for dominance over the other. Castle ran his hands through her hair and then down her back.

A part of Beckett wished she had chosen a different outfit, she really wanted to feel his hands over her stomach and waist but the dress made it difficult.

Castle felt Beckett's hand make their way to the buttons on his shirt and she started to unbutton it. As much as he would have loved for them to continue, he knew he had to stop it from going any further. It wasn't that he didn't want to, he just knew it wasn't the right time. It was too soon. He wanted to wait and make sure it was perfect. He took her hands in his own and pulled them away from his shirt causing Beckett to pull back again from his lips.

"As much as I would love to continue this, I think we should stop, and I should get going before I let this go too far." He could already feel the way his body had been responding to the kiss, he didn't want to go too far and get to the point when he couldn't stop himself from going further.

Kate looked carefully at the man in front of her. He was right, they probably shouldn't go too far, no matter how much she wanted to right then.

"Yeah, you're right," she said. She leant down and placed one more quick kiss to his lips before standing up off his lap in front of him. She then turned and started walking away grinning to herself, knowing that getting up was probably going to be difficult for him after having her straddling his hips.

"Hey, are you just gonna leave me down here?"

She turned around. "You got down there yourself, don't tell me you're too old to get yourself off the floor?"

"A little help wouldn't go astray," he said giving her the best puppy dog eyes he could muster up.

Beckett walked back over to him and held out her hand. He took it gladly and she pulled him up off the floor.

She didn't let go of his hand as they walked towards her front door, she didn't want to let go, but she knew she would eventually have to.

Before opening the door to see Castle out, she turned to look at him once again to thank him for the evening.

"I really did have a great time," she said.

"I'm looking forward to having more even greater times with you," was all Castle could say in response.

Kate smiled at him, she couldn't stop smiling even if she wanted to. She reached for the handle of her door and opened it. Castle took a few steps so that he was now outside her apartment but before leaving he turned to face her, took her in his arms and kissed her once more.

She was glad she managed to find some self control inside her and once again pulled away.

"So, will I see you again?" Castle asked jokingly.

"Hmmmm… I'll think about it," Beckett said and playfully poked out her tongue.

"I'll call you then?"

"Not if I call you first."

Castle could not believe this woman. She was such a tease, but he loved it. "Goodnight Detective Beckett"

"Night Castle." Beckett watched as Castle once again walked down the corridor to leave her apartment.

It hadn't even been a minute since he left when she received a text message on her phone. She pulled her phone out and read it.

_"Dinner and a poker rematch tomorrow? My place this time."_

It didn't take long for her to respond. She didn't even have to think about it.

_"When and where? I'll be there." _

* * *

**Well that's the planned ending, I haven't written any more even though it could continue. I guess if I get enough requests, I could keep it going, it would just take some time, and I wouldn't be able to update so quickly but if there's no request... that's it :) I hope you all enjoyed it and for those of you who read all of it... YAY FOR YOU!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Well, you convinced me to continue... so here we go. Normally, when I have a story I know where I'm going with it but right now, I'm going chapter by chapter. Also, I'm not sure when I will be able to update, it depends when I have time to write. Luckily for you my house mate has a bit of a sleepover with some very loud friends, and I don't see myself getting to sleep any time soon, so I took the opportunity to do some writing. **

**Still don't own Castle :)**

* * *

Castle returned home from the supermarket with Alexis at about 4pm. He had spent a great day with her, catching up on the school gossip. He loved his time with his daughter and every day she continued to surprise him. For years he was worried that growing up without her mum around was going to affect her in her teenage years, but it only made her stronger. He believed his mother to have been a great help, but of course, he would never admit that to her.

Once they arrived back at the loft, Alexis went back up to her room to collect her books for her study session with a few friends while Castle put the groceries away.

A few minutes later, Alexis returned back down stairs, kissed her father on the cheek and went to leave. Before walking out the door she turned to him, "Are you sure you don't mind me going out and leaving you? I know you were looking forward to watching that new movie with me."

Castle smiled. "Yes Alexis, you go and study with your friends. We'll watch it another time. Detective Beckett is joining me for dinner, so I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Ok. Thanks dad," she said and walked out the door, coming back in a second later, "and behave yourself. I'll be back by ten," then before allowing Castle to respond she was out the door again.

Castle wasn't sure whether he was happy or sad that Alexis wouldn't be there tonight. He really wanted Alexis to meet Beckett but, he wasn't sure if it was too soon. Really, it had only been a week and they had only discussed what they had between them, and where they wanted it to go the day before. He decided to once again trust that things would happen as they were meant to and he would know when it was the right time.

He finished putting the groceries away minus a few things he needed for dinner and started preparing the meal. He had decided to make ravioli so he started making the dough and he would freshen up once it was ready.

At half past six there was a knock at the door. Beckett was right on time, and Castle had planned his dinner perfectly. It was all ready, it simply needed to be cooked in a pot and served with the sauce. Something that would take only a little effort and could be done in a short space of time.

When he answered the door, he didn't quite get the greeting he expected. He had planned to welcome her with a kiss to the cheek, but it was barely even a second after he opened the door that she simply started laughing.

"Um, Beckett?" Castle asked, raising one eyebrow confused. "Would you like to come in?"

Beckett took a few deep breaths and made her way past Castle. He was still confused as to why she had been laughing so hard. He thought maybe he had sauce around his mouth so he picked up the corner of the apron to wipe around it, and that's when he realised what she must have been laughing at.

In his excitement, he had forgotten that he had used his mothers apron while cooking. So the first thing she saw as he opened the door was him in a pink floral apron. If it were him on the other side, he would have laughed at himself too.

He closed the door and turned to face the detective who had calmed herself down enough to talk.

"I'm sorry Castle, but, that apron. I just… I wasn't expecting you to look like that. It's a great look though, it really suits you, the pink flowers, they're beautiful really." She felt like she needed to keep talking to stop herself from laughing again. "I'm sorry I don't have any floral outfits myself, we could have been matching. I'll remember that for…"

Beckett had been talking so fast and it didn't seem like it was going to stop any time soon so Castle took it upon himself to stop her and he wrapped one of his arms around her waist pulled her closer and kissed her in one swift move. Just a quick kiss, nothing too intense, it was just the beginning of the night, he didn't want to get too carried away. He just needed to do enough to silence her. And that he did.

As he pulled away he smiled at her. "If you like it that much, maybe I should leave it on all night."

"Oh there's no need to do that for me," she smiled back.

"Well, there's really no need for me to keep it on now, I've finished with the messy part of dinner," Castle said untying the apron and lifting it over his head.

As Castle removed his apron, Kate looked around the loft. It was larger than she imagined. It was stylish, she didn't really expect any different from the writer. To be honest, she wasn't really sure what to expect, but this definitely exceeded her expectations.

"Wow Castle. So this is how a successful author lives? Is it just you and Alexis here?" she asked, quite proud of herself for remember his daughters name.

"And my mother."

His response surprised Beckett. The last thing she had expected was for him to have his mother living with him. There was definitely more to the guy than she realised. Not many grown men would allow any parent to live with them, especially not a single grown man with the reputation that Castle had.

"And is anyone home tonight?" she asked curiously.

"No. Mother is out with an old acting buddy, and Alexis is studying with some friends. It's just us here tonight. So, do you want to eat right away? I made ravioli, so it'll be ready in a few minutes if you'd like."

"Yeah sure," Kate said still looking around taking in every inch of the loft. She spotted some framed photographs over on the other side of the room which she was interested to see, but she didn't want to just go and pry, so instead she followed behind Castle who made his way into the kitchen.

She sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen bench and Castle handed over a glass of wine.

"Dinner won't be too long. Make yourself comfortable wherever you'd like."

"Oh, I'm good here with you," she said, taking a sip of wine.

Castle then poured himself a glass of wine and returned to his ravioli and sauce. Kate watched him intently as he made his way around the kitchen. Not only was Castle an accomplished writer, he also appeared to be quite talented in the kitchen. To say Kate was impressed would have been an understatement.

She quietly sipped away at her wine while Castle finished the meal and plated it up. He hummed to himself as he worked which Kate thought was quite cute, but he was also very professional with the food. With the final touches done, it was time to eat.

"Well, we're all ready to eat."

Beckett picked up her glass while Castle took the dinner plates and led her over to the table. He placed the plates down and pulled out a chair for Beckett like a true gentleman.

Beckett waited until Castle had made his way around to the other side of the table to take his seat.

"This looks great," she said as he took his seat opposite her.

"Only the best for you Beckett," he said as he placed his hand over hers on the table.

"Castle, you know, we are kinda dating here, you can call me Kate."

"Kinda dating?" Castle questioned.

"Okay, we _are_ dating."

"So, first name basis, does this mean you call me Rick now?"

Kate thought about it for a second. "Nah, I think I like Castle better," she teased.

"Well, Kate," he said pointedly, "I think I can live with that," he said.

Kate had not expected him to simply accept it quite so easily. "How about, we are Kate and Rick here, but when I'm working, it's Beckett and Castle?" She knew the others would know straight away something was going on if she allowed him to call her Kate on the job, and she didn't want them asking questions about her personal life. They already knew too much in knowing she liked Castle.

"Perfect," Castle said. "Now let's eat before the dinner gets cold."

Beckett took one bite into her meal and before she even finished her mouthful, she spoke again. "Oh wow, this ish amashing."

"Kate Beckett, didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full." Castle said sternly, and grinned immediately so Kate knew he was joking.

"Sorry," is all she said and she looked back down at her plate.

Castle wasn't sure what he had said but once again the mention of her mother caused her mind to wander somewhere and there was a sadness in her eyes.

"Hey, it was a joke." Castle said leaning over the table and lifting her chin with his index finger. It was slightly awkward but, he needed to make sure she was feeling alright. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just… my mum. I…." she didn't know if she was ready to talk about her mother just yet. It was too soon. "I'm okay. Like you said, we don't want our dinner to get cold."

Castle took his hand away from Kate's chin, took two fingers kissed them and then placed them on her lips. It was his way of telling her that if she didn't want to talk he wasn't going to push her. He trusted that when she was ready, she would talk.

They finished the rest of the meal making small talk along the way. When Kate had asked what was in the sauce, Rick had tried to keep it from her telling her it was a secret, but the way she looked at him, he couldn't help himself and shared his recipe.

Castle collected the dishes and took them to the kitchen and once again, Kate followed him. Once he had emptied his hands, he walked over to her slowly, gazing into her eyes. He leaned in closer, placing his hands on her waist. Kate felt her breath hitch and she slightly parted her lips but, at the last minute, he moved so his mouth was at her ear.

"So Kate, are you ready for that rematch"

* * *

**Don't**** worry, that's not the end of the night. There will be more to come next chapter.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Well, it seems I found time to write again today, I have more free time than I thought. **

* * *

They had been playing for a while and this was their last round. They hadn't made any rule changes this time, and were playing with poker chips rather than chocolate, but there was no money at stake. Kate was willing to put money on the table, but Castle refused to allow it, so instead, it seemed they were playing for pride, and right now Kate felt like she was just about to take Castle down.

She took one last glance down at her cards and then back to Castle. She knew he must have a good hand, but she had four of a kind, and there wasn't much that was going to top that, she was pretty certain she was going to win, if she allowed it. But she couldn't do that to him. So she threw her hand and let him win the final hand which resulted in him doing what he called his 'victory dance'.

"Oh c'mon Kate, don't tell me you don't usually have a bit of a victory dance?" he said.

"Actually, no I don't."

"Well you should get one, I'd let you have mine, but" he paused for a second, then started doing his little dance again, "this is my victory dance and you can't have it."

Kate stood up from the seat where she was sitting and walked over to where Castle had been doing his crazy moves. As she got closer, he slowed his movements and his victory dance no longer seemed all that victorious.

"I thought you liked to share with me?" she whispered in his ear.

"I do, my dear detective," he said in a low whispered voice close to her ear. Then he stood back from her. "But these are my moves."

Beckett lifted her hand and gently pushed him causing him to lose his balance and fall back so he was sitting on the chair.

"Well, I shall get my own moves then, Mr Castle. You better be ready for them next time, when I beat the pants off of you." She turned to return to her side of the table and picked up her glass of wine taking a sip.

"Why Kate," Castle said with a fake stunned expression. "You don't have to beat me to get my pants off"

Kate almost spat out the wine that she had in her mouth and turned around to see Castle still sitting in his seat smirking.

"Castle!"

"You said it," he said defensively, and Kate couldn't argue. She should think more before she speaks sometimes, especially around Castle who never missed an opportunity to make a joke which, to some people, would be mildly inappropriate, but to Kate, made him endearing somehow.

They both picked up their wine glass and finished off their last sip.

"Another wine?" Castle asked taking Beckett's glass.

"Actually, I should probably have a water, I have to get going soon. I'm back to work tomorrow, and if a body drops overnight, tomorrow could come sooner than I would like."

"Coming right up," Castle said as he made his way through to his kitchen.

Kate now feeling more comfortable in the loft walked over to where she had seen the framed photographs when she first came in.

The first she saw was a photo of Castle standing with two red-headed women, one older than him and one younger. She guessed they must have been his daughter and his mother. There was a number of other photos of the younger Castle at various ages but, the one photo that caught her eye and made her laugh was a photo of Castle and Alexis when she appeared to be maybe six or seven years old. She couldn't be sure, but she was pretty sure it was him and his daughter. The photo was hilarious, it actually looked like someone had attacked him with a make up bag and little Alexis was sitting on his shoulders not looking much better.

When Kate heard Castle returning from the kitchen she turned and walked a few steps towards him to take the glass of water from his hands.

"Thanks," she said accepting the glass from his hands, allowing her fingers to brush past his and staying there a little longer than needed. There was something about the skin to skin contact, no matter how little it was, it made her heart quicken and she couldn't help but smile whenever it happened.

"So, you're admiring the photos of my little girl growing up?" he said.

"Yeah, she's gorgeous. I was quite intrigued by this one though," she said turning and walking the few steps back to where she had found the photo with the terrible make up. She placed her glass down on the shelf beside her. "There must be a story that goes with that one."

Castle walked up behind Kate and wrapped his arms around her resting his hands on her stomach and he looked over her shoulder at the photo.

As soon as Castle was behind her, Kate felt herself leaning back into him, wanting to be closer. She felt so comfortable in his arms. It felt right and she placed her hands on top of his.

"Alexis was seven year old," he started. "There was a carnival and she had remembered seeing some flyers that had pictures of the clown heads. You know the ones that go side to side and you put balls in their mouth to get points or something."

Kate nodded just enough for Castle to know she knew what he was talking about.

"Well, Alexis thought it would be fun if we could be just like those clowns. So we got some make up. And I let Alexis put it on both me and her."

"And you went out like that?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. You know we got a lot of funny looks but I would do it all again. Alexis had such a great time, she didn't stop smiling the whole night. I'm all she's had for most of her life, her mother left while she was still extremely young, and I'll do anything for her, to protect her, to make her happy. She's my world."

Kate leaned slightly to one side so she could see his face, and she could see that he was almost tearing up. The love he had for his daughter was a love she did not know, but hoped one day to have.

"You're an amazing father Castle, I haven't met your daughter, I haven't seen how you are with her, but I can hear the love you have for her, and…"

Rick turned his head leant down slightly gently kissed her, before she had finished speaking. It was sweet and tender and was just enough to get the taste of her on his lips. When they parted they stood there for a while silently, gazing back at each other smiling. Nobody was saying anything, nobody needed to. They both knew how the other was feeling in that moment, and it was a feeling neither wanted to lose.

As they stood there, lost in the silence, neither of them heard the front door opening as Alexis came home.

When Alexis opened the door the first thing she saw was her dad with his arms around a woman looking at the photos. It was a beautiful moment, and she didn't want to ruin it, but it was also one of those moments she thought needed to be captured, so she quietly took her phone out of her bag and captured a photo of the two looking at each other with such tenderness.

Looking back at the photo she had taken, she was happy with how it turned out. It would have been nice from the front, but interrupting them would have ruined the moment. She went to slide the phone into her pocket but as she did, the phone slipped out of her hands breaking the silence in the room as it hit the floor.

The noise startled the couple and their moment was gone. Rick unwrapped his arms from around Kate and turned around.

"Alexis? You're home early," he said.

"Yeah, I was tired, so I left earlier than planned."

Kate stood there unsure what to say and do. They hadn't discussed her meeting Alexis and so she didn't know how she was supposed to act and felt a little awkward. She couldn't believe how quickly she went from being more comfortable than she'd ever been to feeling this awkward.

Rick looked beside him and could see Kate was struggling with the situation and didn't know what to do. He took her hand in his and squeezed it slightly. "Kate," he whispered to her, "it's okay." He pulled her closer and placing his hand on the small of her back, he ushered her over towards where Alexis was standing.

"Kate, this is my daughter Alexis. Alexis, this is Detective Beckett."

"It's Kate, you can call me Kate," she said quickly and nervously.

Alexis could see just by looking at Kate that she was feeling a little awkward so she did the one thing she knew that would make her feel more comfortable. She opened her arms, wrapped them around Kate and hugged her, and as she did, she felt the tension leave Kate's body.

"Dad, has been talking about you non-stop this week," she said. "It's good to put a face to the name. But, like I said, I'm feeling tired, so I'm going to go up to bed and leave you two alone."

Castle kissed his daughter on the forehead and quietly said thank you just before Alexis headed off to her room.

"So, that's Alexis," he said smiling. "Pretty amazing isn't she?"

"Yeah," Kate said, still a little surprised about being hugged by the daughter she was so nervous about meeting. "So… you've been talking about me all week?"

"Uh, no, I'm sure that was an exaggeration, you know how teenagers are."

"Oh really?" she said walking towards Castle who found himself taking a few steps back.

"Yeah," he said shakily as he hit the bench behind him, but Kate kept making her way forwards. "Ok, so maybe I did talk about you a lot."

Kate stopped just in front of him. "As long as you were only saying good things, and it was _only _to your daughter, that's ok."

Castle nodded.

"Well," she sighed "I really should be going home to get some sleep myself."

"Yes, I need to get some rest too. Who knows what's going to be waiting for me at the morgue tomorrow. I'll walk you out."

Kate gathered her things and together they made their way down the elevator to her car. Castle's phone buzzed with a message while he was in the elevator.

"That's strange. It's a text from Alexis."

He opened the message to see a picture of him and Kate from earlier that evening. He realised Alexis must have taken it just as she walked in. Seeing the picture of the two of them together, it took his breath away.

"Everything okay?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, she just sent me a picture." Castle held his phone out so Kate could see the picture, and she smiled. It was a beautiful shot of the two of them.

Even though Kate insisted he didn't need to, Rick walked Kate all the way to her car and he opened her door for her.

"Thanks for another amazing night," she said.

"Thank you for making it amazing," he returned. "I'll send you a copy of the picture Alexis took."

"Okay thanks, well goodnight Rick," she gently placed one hand on his cheek and kissed him softly, then climbed into her car.

"Until tomorrow Kate," he said as he closed her door, and then he watched as she drove away, excited at the prospect of what their relationship was becoming.

* * *

**So, back to work in the next chapter. I don't really know myself how that is going to go, I shall let my fingers type and see where it goes. **


	22. Chapter 22

**I'm not 100% sure I'm completely happy with this chapter... but as I said. I'm just going with whatever comes, so here we go. **

**I feel like I keep needing to write this even if I don't, Castle is not owned by myself. I'm not that good. **

* * *

It was 3:45am when Beckett was startled awake by her phone ringing beside her on the bedside table. Looking over at the clock and realising the time she knew there would only be one reason she would be receiving a call that early, and that reason was because a dead body had been discovered.

"Beckett," she answered, trying her best to sound as awake as possible considering the early hour of the morning.

After taking down an address she got out of bed, and prepared herself for the day.

As much as she would have preferred to stay in bed, she had a job to do and to bring somebody to justice gave her a feeling of accomplishment. It meant a lot to her to be able to give answers to families who lost loved ones and to get killers off the streets of New York. She personally knew how it felt to lose a loved one and not have the answers. It was the loss of her own mother and the lack of answers that drove her to become a detective and it's what made her so determined in her job. There were very few people that knew the truth of her past though. She shared what she needed to but, it was a personal story, and one she didn't always like to talk about.

She placed a necklace with her mothers ring around her neck and her fathers watch on her wrist. A daily ritual she performed as a reminder of a life lost and a life saved. As she clasped the watch around her wrist she realised she hadn't spoken to her father for more than a week and she should probably give him a call later, just to check in and see how he was doing.

Coming out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she saw her phone was lit up on her bedside table again. Walking over to it, she wondered who else would be calling or texting her this early, surely it wouldn't be another body.

And it was definitely not another dead body. It was Castle.

_Good morning Detective. You know, getting woken up this early would usually be painful, but knowing that I get to see you soon, definitely makes it worth while. _

Kate smiled. She didn't actually expect Castle to be called in so early but knowing he was going to be there excited her. Realising just how excited she was to get to see him again almost frightened her. What was the writer doing that had her wanting to spend so much time with him? It was like he had this rope tied around her and he was slowly inching her closer. She didn't mind all that much, she just had never felt the pull towards anyone quite so much before.

Kate replied quickly before leaving for the crime scene.

_Well, I'm glad I can be of service. _

When Castle arrived at the scene, he spotted Lanie leaning over the body but, there was no sign of Beckett anywhere. He realised she mustn't have arrived yet. As he started making his way over to Lanie however, he saw Beckett's car pull up and he changed his route to meet her as she got out of her car, not wanting to waste a single second that he could be in her company.

Upon seeing Castle making his way towards her with two take away coffee mugs in his hand, Kate smiled in his direction. Although they were still metres away from one another, she was pretty sure he would have known the smile was for him.

"Your coffee, detective" Castle said as he reached the detective and leant forward to kiss her cheek.

Before his lips reached the skin he expected, he felt hands on his chest holding him back.

"Not here, Castle."

He pulled back slightly confused.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking," Castle said, holding out her coffee allowing her to take if from his hands. He had remembered the conversation about names the previous night and it had he realised that Kate required them to act professional at work. Either that or she wanted to keep her personal life separate or maybe she just didn't want others to know about their new relationship. "I need to be more professional while you're working."

Just as she had the night before with the water glass, she let her fingers linger on his around the cup a little longer than required. She realised they had discussed using their last names when referring to each other on the job but, they had not talked about anything else.

"It's okay Castle, we didn't really talk about how this was going to work while on a case."

"No, no, I totally understand. It's still good to see you. I didn't think anyone could look good at 4am, but you've gone and proved me wrong, you look amazing."

"Thanks Castle," she blushed, "You could do with some work though, did you look in a mirror at all before you left your loft," she joked.

"What? Yes, I looked fine when I left. How do I look now?"

Kate laughed, "I'm just teasing, you don't look bad at all."

"Some would say I look ruggedly handsome," he winked.

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far."

Rick opened his mouth in shock but knew that Kate was still teasing. He would have loved to keep her to himself for a little bit longer but he realised Lanie was probably waiting for the two of them to join her. "Well, I think Lanie has some information for us."

As they walked over to Lanie, Castle made sure he did not stand too close. He wanted to give Beckett some space while she worked, and he wasn't sure that he'd be able to stop himself from reaching for her hand if he stood closer.

They reached Lanie who was looking at the two of them curiously.

"What have we got here?" Kate asked, noticing Lanie's look but not ready to answer questions she felt Lanie was going to ask.

"Oh no, girl, first, you tell me what's going on here," she said pointing between the detective and the writer.

"Nothing."

Lanie raised both her eyebrows as if to say she didn't believe her, and then looked up at Castle, who just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

"Something is going on, and you know I'm going to figure it out."

"Lanie!" Beckett warned.

"Fine, but we are talking later girl."

"Just tell me about the body," the detective said as she crouched beside the victim.

When Lanie started to explain what she had discovered, Castle came and crouched on the opposite side of the ladies and listened closely taking in all the information quietly.

After the medical examiner had explained all the information she had discovered, she asked Castle if he could go speak to the guys who were there to transfer the body.

Castle wasn't stupid, he knew that Lanie just wanted to get Kate alone to question her, but he couldn't argue. He gave Kate a reassuring smile and then headed off to find the guys at the van.

"So, detective Beckett, it's just us now, what's going on?"

"I said earlier, and I'll say it again, it's nothing."

"Really? That little exchange when you first got here. That… was nothing? It looked like something."

"He was giving me coffee. You know, that's what he does. He brings coffee," Kate said trying to sound convincing, like the coffee was nothing more than coffee.

"So you didn't see him over the weekend then?" Lanie had heard from the boys about Castle bringing dinner to the precinct on Friday and they mentioned that Kate and Castle had made plans for Saturday night. She just wanted to hear Kate admit to it herself.

Thinking about how well her weekend went with Castle, Kate couldn't help but smile. She could also see by the look on Lanie's face that she already knew something. "The boys told you, didn't they?" the detective asked.

"They mentioned something."

"Okay, fine. Yes, I saw him over the weekend."

"And…"

"And nothing."

"C'mon Kate, I'm your best friend. You have to share these things with me. You two haven't stopped smiling since you got here. It's barely past 4a.m. Nobody smiles that much at this time of the morning. Where did you go? What did you do? Have you..."

"Seriously Lanie, I'm not talking about this here," Kate interrupted.

Lanie noticed Castle was walking back in their direction so she decided to let it go again. She knew something was going on and she didn't give up that easily, but Kate was right, the crime scene was not the ideal place to discuss such personal things.

"Tonight. Girls night. Just us," Lanie said.

"If I'm not at the precinct, then sure," Kate said. She knew Lanie was just going to continue the questioning during girls night, but she did love her girls nights with Lanie. She was a great friend and Kate knew she could talk to her about anything.

"Well, I'll be taking writer boy with me in the van with the body now, so we'll see you at the morgue later."

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**If you feel the need, review. If not, don't. It's up to you.**

**I'm open for suggestions as well. As I've said, I don't actually have a plan of where I'm going from here, so if there is anything you want to see, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Obviously, I may not be able to fit in everything, but I can try to do some of it. I have a few ideas for scenes myself, but I know there are a lot more possibilities. **


	23. Chapter 23

**I spent a few days coming up with a bit of a story line for how I want the story to go and where it needs to finish. I just hope that it works now :) So here's the next chapter. **

**Still don't own Castle.  
**

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"So Castle," Lanie said as they completed the autopsy of their current victim. "Kate tells me you had quite the eventful weekend."

Castle was standing on the opposite side of the table where he was able to get a good view of everything that Lanie had been doing. As soon as he heard Kat's name mentioned he snapped his head up.

"Oh, did she now?" he asked not completely believing that Kate would have said all that much at all. And what did Lanie mean by eventful anyway? It was almost as if Lanie thought more had happened than actually did.

"Yeah," she said nodding. "Being best friends, she tells me everything."

"Everything?" he raised his eyebrows.

"What? You don't have a friend that you tell everything to?"

"I just got the feeling that you were fishing for information this morning, and you didn't get it, so now you're trying to get information from me. And sorry Lanie, this fish," he pointed to himself "ain't biting."

"C'mon Castle, give me something," Lanie said putting down her tools on the table beside her. "What's going on between you and our dear detective."

"Lanie, I don't want to say something I shouldn't so I'd rather not say anything at all." He actually really wanted to share what was happening because he was excited about it, but he also really wanted to respect Kate's wishes. It was taking a lot of effort not to blurt out that they were giving the relationship thing a go. "It's her you need to be talking to," he finished.

"Well, you know what, you just admitted that there is something to say. And don't you worry, I will be talking to Kate," she grinned feeling like she had just uncovered something, even if she didn't know exactly what it was.

They finished their work silently with Lanie writing up the last of her findings in the report for the NYPD. As she worked she could feel Castle's eyes watching her, and she was finding it a little bit creepy.

Castle was watching Lanie quite intently but his mind was elsewhere. He had a question that he wanted to ask but he wasn't quite sure how to approach the subject or what Lanie would think.

After a while Lanie spoke up, unable to deal with his eyes staring at her any longer, "Castle, what do you want?"

"You know a lot about Detective Beckett, don't you?" He was trying his best in remembering to use surnames, to keep it professional. That is what Kate wanted in the workplace.

"I thought we weren't talking about her, and besides, I think you are getting to know her quite well yourself."

"No, I mean, you're her best friend. So you'll know how she'll react about certain things. I was thinking" he paused, "to get a better idea of this whole process…"

"Spit it out Castle," Lanie said impatiently.

"What do you think she'll say if I ask to join her with the NYPD her for a while. Go with her on a few cases, get a feel for how the NYPD do things. Like I do here."

"You want to follow Beckett around in the workplace? Wow, you really have got it bad haven't you," Lanie laughed.

"It'll be for research Lanie. Just research. There's nothing more to it. I just think getting to see more of the NYPD at work, my books will be more accurate."

"Riiiiiight, sure, for your books. Are you sure this isn't just for you?"

"Okay, it is a little for me, but it's for the books mostly. I will enjoy spending the time with Beckett…"

Lanie raised her eyebrows at him.

"And her team," he continued with emphasis on team. "But it's mostly for the books. She's a great cop and to be honest, she's rather inspiring. She's given me ideas for this new kick-ass detective character for a new book and I do need a new character. You can't tell her though. This is something I need to tell her myself. I just think seeing her on the job more, will give me more of an insight and will help me build the character. I know there's a story there, I know there's a past and it makes her who she is."

"Oh, so you know about her mother then?" Lanie interupted without thinking.

"Her mother?"

"Oh, you don't know about it" Lanie realised she had made an error in mentioning Becketts mother and knew it was not her place to discuss it. Kate was very private about her life, especially when it came to the details of her mother and her past. She wasn't sure she would be forgiven if she was to share more information than Kate wanted shared. "Sorry Castle, it's not my story to tell"

"What's wrong with her mother?" Castle almost demanded.

"I can't. I shouldn't have mentioned her."

"Something happened didn't it? That's why she's gone quiet whenever her mother is mentioned." His voice softened as he started imagining how the story went.

What had happened? Did she not get along with her mother? Was her mother a cop as well? Did she even know her mother? Did her mother run away? Was her mother murdered? As much as he hoped her mother had not been murdered, something inside him made him believe that was exactly what had happened. It made everything else make sense.

"Lanie, was her mother murdered?' he finally questioned again, walking over to where Lanie had taken a seat and looked her right in the face. He wanted to see the look on her face as she spoke.

"Look Castle, I shouldn't have mentioned her mother at all, just give her time. I'm sure she'll tell you when she's ready," she said and turned away.

Seeing that Lanie was clearly concerned that she had shared information that she shouldn't have, Castle decided to drop it. She was right, Kate would tell him when she was ready.

"So, what do you think? Do you think she'll let me follow her?" he said getting back to his original question.

"I'm not sure Castle. She doesn't usually like people getting in her way, and you know it's not always fun and games in the NYPD, it's serious work they do there."

"I know, and I would stay out of the way. I haven't gotten in the way too much here, have I?"

"In the beginning, maybe, but you're a fast learner. It's just Beckett's never had a shadow before, but if she likes you the way I'm thinking she does, then she might just allow it. I'm not making any promises though."

"So, you think she really likes me huh?" Castle asked while going back and sitting in his chair.

"Castle, you're the one who's been spending all the time with her. Shouldn't you be able to answer that yourself?"

Just at that moment, Detective Beckett walked through the door to get the information Lanie had on the victim.

"Kate," Lanie said with a smile. "We were just talking about you."

"I really hope you weren't" Kate said glaring first at Lanie and then over to Castle. "Castle, what have you been telling her."

"Nothing," Castle responded, he got up out of his chair and started making his way over over to her, but then realising that he needed to act professionally he altered his planned course away from Beckett and walked over to where the body and the notes were.

"Well from now on, I'd rather any conversation you have here to be about the victims, and not me," she followed over to the body.

Castle turned and nodded once to let her know he agreed.

Lanie allowed Castle to explain what they had found to Beckett as an experiment to see how much attention he had actually paid. She was surprised that he had remembered almost every detail.

"Well done, Castle. You remembered just about everything. You really do pay attention."

Castle smiled at the compliment, "Like I've said before. Attention to detail is important in my line of work."

As Lanie explained the last few notes she couldn't help but notice the looks and smiles that were being shared between the detective and the writer. Did they really think they weren't that obvious? She actually thought it was sweet they way they were behaving, trying not to let anyone know what was actually going on, but it was obvious they had taken a step up in their relationship and they weren't just friends working together anymore.

After Lanie had finished explaining everything, Kate was ready to leave but just as she reached the door she turned to Lanie, "I'll see you tonight Lanie, I'll let you know when I'm leaving the precinct."

"Ooooh, what's tonight?" Castle interrupted, looking from one woman to the other. "Am I invited?"

"Sorry Castle, girls only night." Lanie told him and laughed when Castle pouted. "I'll see you tonight then Kate, you better be ready to talk."

Kate was ready to talk, she just wasn't sure exactly how much she was ready to share or really what there was to share. She had a feeling Lanie thought the relationship had gone further than what it actually had.


	24. Chapter 24

**I know many of you are waiting for the Lanie & Kate talk... so I hope I've done ok with it. Please let me know what you think either way. **

**Disclaimer: If I was an actual writer on Castle, I doubt it would still be around. **

* * *

Kate was thankful when she was able to close the case within the day and arrived home at 7pm.

She had called Lanie on her way back to her apartment and was expecting her to arrive in about 30 minutes. In the time she had spare she decided she should make a quick call to her father, Jim.

"Katie?" he answered within a couple of rings.

"Hey dad," she said happily. "I have some interesting news for you."

The sound of her voice surprised her father. There was more happiness in her voice than usual, and a hint of excitement.

"Good news, I guess. You sound well, Katie. So what is this news?"

"You know that mystery novelist, the writer mum loved?"

"Richard Castle, how could I forget?"

"Well, I'm working with him."

"You what? Since when did he become a cop?"

Kate laughed. "He didn't. So technically, he's not really working with me, he's working with Lanie, you know the medical examiner. He's doing research for his books, but he's been on some of the cases I've been working on."

"And you're okay?" Jim asked. He knew how much of a help Castle's books were to his daughter when his wife was murdered. He was worried that it would bring up memories and Kate would spiral downwards, but it seemed to be doing just the opposite.

"Yeah, I'm great"

"That's good to hear. So what exactly does a writer do while researching with a medical examiner."

"You know, I'm not sure exactly. At first he just got in the way, but he improved quickly and he has this way of making work more fun. I'm not really sure how he does it."

"Really?" he asked. He had not heard Kate talk like this for a while, and he was sure there was more to it than what she was saying.

"Yeah, he actually brought dinner to the precinct the other night and has been a little bit helpful."

"Is there something you're not telling me about this writer?"

"What? No," Kate replied, maybe a little too faster than she wanted.

The fast response made him think there was definitely more to it. "Well, I haven't heard you speak like this about anyone in a while."

Kate was shocked. What had she said? Surely she hadn't said that much? She really wasn't ready to tell her father she was dating Richard Castle, so she laughed it off. "I just thought you'd be interested because, well, it's Richard Castle"

Kate managed to sway the conversation in a different direction and continued to talk to her dad asking about his work for another ten minutes before finishing the conversation knowing Lanie would be around any minute.

When Lanie arrived she didn't even wait until she'd made it through the door before wanting details.

"So, I want to know _everything_ about your weekend Kate. It's just you, me and a glass of wine tonight, so there's no need to hide anything," she said pushing past Kate and making her way straight through to the kitchen finding wine glasses.

Kate stood still at the door, just watching as Lanie pushed her way through. After a moment she closed he door and turned to face Lanie, who had by this stage poured two glasses of wine and was back in front of Kate staring straight at her.

"So…? C'mon girl. Spill," she said handing over one glass.

Kate took the glass from Lanie. "Thanks."

They made their way over to the lounge and took a seat. Lanie would not stop looking at Kate, she just kept waiting for her to say something.

"So, I really don't know what it is you want me to tell you Lanie," Kate said. She knew Lanie loved hearing stories about peoples personal lives, but this? This was crazy behaviour.

"Everything. Tell me everything. Except the parts that I already know."

"What do you know?" Kate asked suddenly worried that maybe Rick had said something while at the morgue.

"Basically nothing," Lanie said sounding annoyed. "The boys know more than me."

"Well, obviously they told you that I was having dinner with Castle on Saturday."

"They did mention that, they said that you invited yourself." She gave Kate a 'way-to-go' look.

"I didn't really invite myself, I just encouraged him to invite me."

"And so what happened on Saturday night? C'mon Kate, you know my love life is a little boring right now, give me something."

"I have nothing to give you Lanie, really," Kate said but couldn't help the smile that had started making its way onto her lips.

"That smile you've got going there tells me otherwise girl."

_Damnit! _Kate thought to herself. She had tried really hard to stop anything from showing on her face, but it didn't seem like it was going to work tonight. She took in a deep breath and went to say something and then stopped really not knowing what to say.

"C'mon Kate, you saw Castle nearly every night for the past week. You can't tell me you have nothing to say. Tell me you've at least kissed him. We all know that he has wanted to kiss you all week. I'd say he wants to do a lot more than that… if he hasn't already."

Kate felt herself start to blush as memories of sharing kisses with Castle flooded her mind. His lips on hers were so soft and delicious and she couldn't wait to be able to claim those lips again. And after thinking about that, there was no way she was going to be able to hide her reddening cheeks from Lanie.

"Oh my goodness, girl," Lanie said seeing her face as it looked like it was going to burn up. "What have you two been up to? And don't say nothing, because I know it's not nothing."

"Okay, so Saturday night then?"

Lanie fidgeted in her chair, making herself more comfortable and then gazed back towards Kate giving her a nod, letting her know she should continue.

Kate smiled again, as the memories from Saturday night came back to her mind. She began to tell Lanie about the dinner they shared and the fans that appeared as she went to the bathroom and then of the camera that Castle somehow bought from a photographer.

"So he was protective of you," Lanie interrupted. "That's sweet."

"Yeah, I guess it was." Kate said and continued her story, finally telling Lanie of the conversation they had over dinner.

"So, let me get this right? You actually had the 'are we dating' conversation with him?"

Kate nodded.

"So you are officially dating?"

Again, Kate simply nodded with her smile growing.

"So what happened after dinner?"

"We went back to my place for dessert and…" Kate stopped and laughed when she saw the look Lanie had on her face.

Lanie seriously looked like a child ready to open a giant present at Christmas time.

"Seriously Lanie? Is your life really so boring that mine is bringing you this much excitement."

"Shut up, and just tell me about _dessert,"_ Lanie said with a slight wiggle of her eyebrows.

Kate slapped her friend on the shoulder, "Not that kind of dessert Lanie, we ate cheesecake."

"Really? That's disappointing. So you just went back to your place… and ate cheesecake."

"No, we also played a game of poker with Hershey's Kisses and then… as I won the final round, he surprised me…"

Kate bit on her bottom lip as once again she remembered their first kiss. The warmth of his body as he made his way closer, the taste of his lips as they covered her own, the feel of his hands through her hair and over her back, and then as she made his way over his lap the movement underneath her that could only have been a result of his excitement over the situation.

"Earth to Kate?" Lanie said, snapping Kate out of her trance. "He surprised you?"

"He kissed me."

"And…?"

"And, it was amazing, Lanie. It was gentle, but intense. It was life changing, if that's even possible for a kiss. His lips were better than any other lips I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. And boy does he know what he's doing with them."

"And please tell me you kissed him back, and didn't make him do all the work?"

"Oh I kissed him back alright."

"And then...?"

"And then, he left."

"He kissed you, Richard Castle gave you an amazing life changing kiss, and then you just let him leave. Please tell me you didn't kick him out."

"No," she said. "He stopped me from going further. If he didn't, I'm not sure how far I would have gone."

"So, _he_ stopped you?" Lanie asked surprised.

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"It was nice actually, as much as I would really liked to have kept him to myself a little longer, I am glad he stopped us. It means that there's more to this than simply fulfilling a need. I think he actually cares and he actually wants this to go somewhere."

"And you?"

"I think maybe I do too. I don't know what I want really. We're dating, we're getting to know each other. It's still very new. I usually jump into relationships so quickly, but he's slowing it down and I don't know, it makes me want it more."

"Oooooh you've got it bad," Lanie teased which resulted in a glare from Beckett. "So, is there anything else you wish to share?"

"I met his daughter, briefly."

"Meeting the family already? That doesn't sound slow to me."

"Uh, yeah, it wasn't planned. She came home early on Sunday and we…"

"Sunday? So you saw him Sunday as well?"

"Yeah. As I was saying, she came home early and we were in the lounge room looking at photos. Oh Lanie, you should see some of those photos. They are so cute."

"I don't want to know about photos Kate," she rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, Castle introduced me to Alexis. She's gorgeous by the way, and she hugged me."

Lanie laughed. "Really? Just straight out hugged you?"

"Yeah. I know right? I was surprised myself, but it was nice, made me feel much more comfortable. But then I left not long after."

"I hope you didn't just take off, freaking out about meeting his daughter. You at least kissed him goodnight?"

"You really do like details don't you? Yes, I kissed him goodnight. Or did he kiss me goodnight? I don't know. There was definitely kissing again though. So are you happy now? That really is everything."

Lanie got up from where she was sitting and pulled Kate into a hug.

"I'm just so happy for you. No more keeping anything from me. Don't make me have to come around here begging for information again."

After another hour or so of Lanie asking questions and trying to get more information than Kate actually had, she finally went home leaving Kate to get a good night sleep before work the next morning.

Just as Kate lay down to go to sleep for the night her phone buzzed. It was Castle.

_I have a surprise for you tomorrow. _

_Oh really? What is it? _Kate replied.

_Sorry, can't tell you. It'll ruin the surprise._

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**And there it is. I hope you enjoyed it. I shall try and update again soon. **


	25. Chapter 25

When Beckett arrived at the precinct in the morning, she was pleasantly surprised when she found a coffee sitting on her table with a note.

_Good morning Detective Beckett xx_

So, the note didn't say much, but it was still sweet. She knew it could only have come from one person. Castle. And she had asked him to keep it professional at work, so it made sense that he hadn't written more.

Kate picked up the coffee to take a sip and almost burnt her tongue. The coffee was still extremely hot which meant Castle must have only just left it, and he was probably still in the building.

She thought back to the night before and the message he had sent her. He had a surprise for her. Looking around her desk she could see there was nothing other than the coffee sitting there, and surely the coffee wasn't the surprise. If it was, Castle had no idea what a real surprise was, Kate had thought.

It suddenly hit her that maybe he was waiting somewhere ready to jump out at her, and as funny as that may have seemed to him, she was not going to find that funny at all, not in her place of work.

Ryan and Esposito had not arrived yet, so she was unable to ask them if they knew where he was. With paperwork being the only thing waiting for her at her desk she decided to take a couple of minutes to look around. The first place she decided to look was break room, but she didn't make it that far before she found where Castle was.

Captain Montgomery was in his office and he and Castle appeared to be having a very serious conversation. His door was closed, so she couldn't go in, all she could do was wait for them to come out and then she would ask Castle what it was about. She hoped he hadn't gotten himself in trouble.

After a few minutes sitting at her desk, the captain called her into his office with himself and Castle.

_"Oh, and now he's getting me involved. What could he possibly have done?" _she thought to herself. She suddenly thought that maybe his surprise was that he was taking her away from work for the day, and he had been arranging details with the captain. Surely, he wouldn't do that would he?

Kate made her way into the office and stood in front of the captains desk while he made his way around to the other side and sat in his chair. Castle was sitting in another chair and had a smug look on his face. Something was going on, and she was desperate to know what it was.

"Detective Beckett," Montgomery started, "It seems Castle here is enjoying working with the medical examiner and the NYPD so much that he wants to get some further research done."

"Sir?" Kate questioned, unsure where he was going with this. She looked over to Castle, who was still sitting there silently but now he looked like he was concentrating on watching her, and then she looked back at the captain.

"Castle is going to continue his research with us, starting next week. He will be following you on a few cases to get a feel for the NYPD and how we work."

"Sir, you can't be serious. He's a civilian."

"Sorry Kate, we've discussed it, I've spoken to those above me and they are all happy for this to happen, including the mayor. They say the NYPD can always do with some more positive publicity, and well what better way than this."

"Until he gets shot or worse, killed. That's not going to be good publicity, you want to be the precinct that allows the famous writer to get shot?" she snapped.

Beckett was angry, and that was not the reaction Castle had expected. He thought about talking to her about it first, but decided that he would surprise her. It seems his surprise was more of a surprise for him than her. The way she was talking to the captain was almost like she had completely forgotten that he was even in the room. A part of him wanted to back out of the room and pretend he was never there, but that would probably make things worse. He could at least try and get Beckett to calm down.

"Well, you'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen then Beckett."

"Sir…"

Castle took the opportunity to stand beside Beckett and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, I wont allow myself to get shot, you wont allow it, I trust you," he said softly.

"Castle," she pushed his hand away. "Don't"

Captain Montgomery started making his way towards the door opening it for the two to leave. "Well, the decision has been made. Beckett, I suggest you get out there and get that paperwork finished before another body drops. Castle, I will see you on Monday."

Beckett huffed and walked out. Castle took a deep breath then followed her out. He had barely made it a few steps out of the office when Beckett grabbed his arm and pulled him into the break room. He stood there watching her as she closed the door and the blinds and then turned back to him with a look on her face that made Castle realise he really had made a huge mistake.

"Kate…" he started, reaching out for her shoulders again, hoping to calm her down.

"Don't Kate me, Castle" she said through her gritted teeth while once again pushing his hands away from her. "I can't believe you did this, behind my back."

"Beckett, I'm sorry. It was meant to be a surprise. I thought you'd enjoy having me around a bit more."

"This is my job. I can't have you here distra… getting in my way."

"That's why you're angry? You're worried that I'm going to distract you?"

"No, I'm worried that you are going to prevent me from doing my job. I'm worried you are going to do something stupid. I'm worried you're going to get shot, stabbed, run over, I don't know. I'm worried you're going to get killed." As she spoke the anger had started to fade and Castle could sense that there was an amount of concern there, she really was worried about him.

"Beckett," he took a step closer, "I promise, I will do only as I'm told, so I wont get hurt. I trust that you wont let me get hurt. And if I don't get in the way, if I don't do what I'm told, I give you permission to spank me."

He just wanted to see Kate smile again, and was hoping the joke would lighten the mood, but it seemed he was full of wrong decisions because the look on her face was not the one he wanted to see, the worry was gone and the anger was back again.

"See, that's just it Castle. You don't take this seriously enough. This isn't a joke. My job is serious. These are real people that have been murdered and it's my job to find the sons of bitches that do these things so I can bring some sort of closure to their families. You…. You are just here for a bit of fun." She turned and started walking towards the door, she couldn't deal with this right now, she had to get out of there, she had a job to get back to.

Before she got to the door Castle stopped her, grabbing her hand and turning her towards him.

"I don't know what else to say other than I'm sorry. I didn't think. Yes, I should have asked first, but I didn't and I'm sorry," he said walking closer to her again, not letting go of her hand.

She pulled her hand from his turned and opened the door that was behind her. "Castle, I think you should go."

"Beckett, I swear, I didn't mean to step on your toes. I wanted to surprise you. I wanted to spend more time with you. I thought I could be helpful."

"Just go!" she said and walked out the door before him, making her way towards the bathroom. The last thing she wanted was for Castle to see the tears that were threatening to fall down her face. She loved having him in her world, but this was too much. She couldn't have him in her work place. Some days it was hard enough to keep herself safe without having to worry about another person, a person she cared about, aperson that she was growing closer to every day.

"Kate? Please?" Castle called out to her.

"Castle. No!" she screamed and walked into the bathroom.

He stood outside the bathroom unsure whether he should just go in there after her, but decided to give her some time.

"I'll go talk to the captain. I'll tell him I'll stick with Lanie for a while longer, and if you really don't want me here, then I'll respect that," he said, hoping she could hear from where she was in the bathroom. He would let her calm down and talk to her later.

Kate leaned her back against the wall in the bathroom and just let the tears fall.

* * *

**You know, I actually enjoyed writing that scene. Shocking. Let's hope they can sort things out. **


	26. Chapter 26

**Just thought I should thank all you people who continue to leave me reviews. I'm sorry I don't manage to get back to all of you, but know that I appreciate all of them :) **

**Disclaimer: Do I really need to remind you that I don't own Castle or the characters? Really?  
**

* * *

After the morning didn't go as planned, Castle decided he would spend the day at home. He contacted Lanie and told her he wasn't coming in and spent the day just wandering aimlessly around his house, continuously looking at his phone hoping Kate would call or message. He would have contacted her himself but he wanted to give her time and space.

He had thought about what he had done and he knew he was in the wrong. Kate was right to be mad. He really hadn't put much thought into wanting to follow her at all, and a part of him did just think it would be fun. She was also right in saying that he wasn't serious enough about the job. The idea of chasing around criminals excited him, but he realised there was a more serious side to the job that he hadn't thought about. He hadn't considered the danger that came with it.

When he started thinking about the dangers, he started thinking about Kate, who was there every day, facing that exact danger. How did she do it? How could she go to work knowing she could be risking her life? What was it that made her wake up every morning happy to put her life in danger?

When Alexis came home, she could tell something was up, but Rick wasn't ready to talk to her about it, he just wanted to figure out how to fix it. Alexis knew when to push something and when to leave it, and this time she didn't need to push it, so she simply gave her dad a hug and went up to her room to study.

By the time 6pm came around, Rick still hadn't heard from the detective. Deciding he had probably given her enough space, he tried calling but it went to voice mail, he left her a quick message just asking her to call and then he sent her a text. He wasn't sure which one she would get first, and there was also the chance that she wouldn't listen to his voice mail.

_Dinner? I want to apologize. You were right, and I was wrong to go behind your back. _

He put his phone down and watched it, waiting to see if she would reply. A few minutes later his phone buzzed.

_Castle, I've got a case._

That's all she had to say. Castle realised she obviously was not ready to forgive him or talk about it yet.

_Talk to you tomorrow? _he sent back. He wanted her to know that one argument was not going to frighten him away.

_I'll call you when I can. _

That response wasn't really what Castle had wanted to hear, but it was something. She wasn't completely ignoring him, which was a good sign but he knew he wasn't going to be able to talk to her before the night was over, so he thought he would get some writing done.

After staring at the blank computer screen for more than 2 hours he realised he was getting nowhere with that either, so he started thinking up a plan for the following morning. He had already told the captain he wasn't sure he would be going through with following Beckett, so surely she would appreciate that.

He had noticed that Kate always loved her morning coffee, so he would take her one in the morning. Even if she didn't want to talk, he hoped he would at least get to see her smile, and then he would try and organize lunch for just the two of them so he could take her somewhere they could talk privately.

* * *

Kate had been sent home from the precinct early. She'd picked up a case but Montgomery, Esposito and Ryan could all see that she wasn't completely focused on it. Beckett was distracted and they knew why. The argument she had had with Castle that morning was obviously still on her mind.

She tried to refuse when they told her to go home but in the end gave in. She decided to go home, but she wasn't going to go home and do nothing. So she took a few papers and photos with her so she could continue the investigation at there.

Walking into her apartment, she set out everything she had taken from the precinct out on her table where she could see it all. It would have been easier at the precinct with her murder board. She found being able to write notes on the white board around the pictures was very helpful, but for now she was going to have to just lay it all down and see what she could find.

She sat there staring at the pictures for a while but she was still struggling to focus. Unsure why the argument had affected her so deeply she decided maybe she just needed some time out to relax, gather her thoughts, and then she would get back to the case.

A bubble bath was the perfect way for her body and mind to rest briefly, so she left the lounge and ran the bath, lighting some scented candles around her. Stepping into the hot water she felt her muscles relax immediately and she layed down with a sigh and closed her eyes, simply allowing the water to cover every part of her body.

She lay there a few minutes with closed eyes, just taking in the smell of the candles, when her mind went back to the argument she had with Rick that morning.

Really, what was he thinking? He thought he would be able to follow her round without it affecting anything, thinking he wouldn't get hurt and he'd be completely safe? Her job was dangerous, but when it was just her she had to worry about she was okay with that. She could deal with that. But if Rick got injured or worse, killed, how would she tell his daughter? She didn't want to be the one to blame if something terrible like that happened.

But why did she react so strongly? What made her worry so much? It was only normal to worry, but she realised there was more to it than that. If it had been someone else, she wasn't sure she would have reacted in the same way? Maybe it was just because he had gone behind her back. But even when he had tried to apologize she didn't want to hear it.

She was startled when her phone started ringing beside her. It was Lanie. She didn't really feel like talking to anyone, but maybe Lanie had information on the case, she couldn't ignore it.

"Beckett," she answered.

"Girl, what went down this morning? The boys said something about an argument, and Castle didn't come in today. Why didn't you call me? What happened?"

Kate sighed and wished she hadn't answered the phone at all, although maybe Lanie could help her understand what was going through her head.

"He went behind my back Lanie. He spoke to the captain about following me at work for a while, before even consulting me to find out if I wanted him there."

"And you don't want him there?" Lanie asked.

"Yes… no… yes… I don't know. I mean, he's great and I enjoy myself when he's around so it would be nice to have some of that at work, but it's also dangerous, he could get hurt Lanie. You know how the job is. There's just too many ways that he can be injured, he's not trained like the rest of us."

"So, what did you say to him?"

"I don't even remember. All I know is that I got really angry and told him to leave."

"Oh"

"And now I don't even know why I got so angry. I'm so confused."

"He went behind your back, it's okay to get angry, but I think what we really need to think about here is why you don't want him there."

"My ears are open to hear anything you have to say."

"Well, it's obvious you car about him. Like you said, we know how dangerous your job is. I don't think it's that you don't want him around, I think it's more that you don't want him to get hurt."

"I don't want to lose him Lanie."

Kate's eyes widened when she realised what she had just admitted to her friend. She didn't want to lose him? Did she really care about him that much? They were still getting to know one another. Their relationship was new. This was something she had never had to deal with before so quickly. She never felt this way about a guy so soon after meeting them.

"Kate?" she heard Lanie questioning on the phone.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, I thought you had gone. You went silent on me."

"Sorry about that. Lanie, um, thanks for calling, but I've got to go."

"O… kay," Lanie said a little unsure about the sudden need to end the conversation. "Call me if you need anything.

"I will. Goodnight Lanie," Kate said hanging up the phone.

She needed to get her thoughts back in order, she needed to figure out what it was she was doing with Castle. She was already in deeper than she thought. Was this really what she wanted? Knowing that she cared more than she thought scared her. Could she really allow herself to continue like this? The problem with caring about someone meant she was putting herself in a position where she could be hurt? Previously she had built walls around her heart so she would never let herself get to a point where she didn't want to lose a guy. And here she was, in a very new relationship, and the walls were already crumbling down. It frightened her to think that Castle could crash through them so quickly.

It wasn't long before her phone was ringing again beside her, but this time it was Castle. She wasn't ready to talk to him just yet, so she let it go to voice mail and a few seconds later, it buzzed to tell her he had left a message. She would listen to it later.

Climbing out of the bath she heard her phone buzz once more, this time Castle had sent a text about having dinner. As much as one part of her wanted to say yes, she just wasn't ready to face him yet, she needed to sort through her thoughts some more, so she told him she was busy.

Kate decided she was not going to do anything about it tonight. She was going to sleep on it. She was going to have to apologize for the way she reacted, but she needed to sort out her feelings before facing him.

* * *

**I'm not sure I like this chapter, but I think it was needed to understand where Kate's thinking was. **


	27. Chapter 27

**Thanks again for all the new reviews and follows. I am seriously surprised at the number of followers I have for this story. **

**Disclaimer: I own a Castle puzzle... it's awesome and my housemate said I needed an intervention, but I don't own Castle.  
**

* * *

Kate woke early the next morning after a somewhat restless night. Her mind had kept her awake most of the night not sure of what she was going to do about Castle and the situation she had found herself in. She did eventually get to sleep in the early hours of the morning.

She got herself ready for the day in half the time she would usually take wanting to make a quick stop over on her way into the precinct. Due to the way she had reacted at the precinct and then the shortness of her messages that night she thought she should apologize to Castle. She didn't want to do it over the phone and she wanted to do it sooner rather than later. She was still annoyed that he had gone behind her back, but she realised her over reaction was due to a level of caring for him she didn't realise was there and then when she did, she didn't know what to do with it.

When she made it to Castles loft she suddenly became nervous. He didn't know she was coming, what if he didn't want to see her now? She wouldn't blame him, if he didn't. And what was she meant to say? Maybe she hadn't put as much thought as she needed to into this visit.

After a moment of deep breathing, she got out of her car. She needed to fix this, she cared for him, and she didn't want to ruin what they had before they had a chance to go anywhere with it.

She was ready to just blurt out an apology as soon as the door opened but as she opened her mouth, she stopped herself because standing in front of her was Alexis, not Rick.

"Kate?"

"Hi Alexis, is your dad home?"

"Yeah, he's just in his room. He didn't mention we'd be seeing you this morning."

"No, I…." she paused not knowing what Castle had told his daughter. "I came here to apologize."

"I see." Alexis was now realising why her dad was so quiet and seemingly upset yesterday. It had something to do with the detective. "Come in. I'm sure he'll be out in a second."

Kate had taken a few steps into the loft when she heard Castle calling out and she turned toward the voice.

"Alexis, can you…" he froze when he saw Kate standing there looking back at him, and Alexis made her way back up to her room to finish getting ready for school "Beckett? I wasn't expecting you."

Castle was now standing just a few metres in front of Kate, fresh from the shower, with just a towel wrapped around his waist. There were still some water droplets falling down from his hair and down his chest. Kate took in a deep breath as she looked at the sight in front of her. Seeing him standing there in front of her, everything that she had been thinking about the night before had vanished and words were gone from her mind. Rick looked amazing, and it took a lot of self control for her to not just go and jump him right then and there. She wanted to run her hands down his chest, push him back towards his room, remove the towel and get back in the shower with him. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet as she tried to calm her heart rate and ignored the heat running up her chest and onto her face.

"Kate?" Castle said again, snapping her out of her trance.

"Um, sorry Rick. I wanted to…" she couldn't stop staring at his chest and was struggling to get the words out. She shook her head and focused on her words. "I wanted to talk about yesterday but, do you mind maybe getting dressed first?"

Rick looked down at himself. When he had seen Kate, he completely forgot that he was standing around in just a towel. He now understood the look that Kate was giving him. She was like a hungry tiger ready to pounce on her prey. He laughed at himself, then looked back up at her taking a few steps closer. He saw no anger in her eyes, all the anger that was there the day before had gone. She was just Kate again. A hungry Kate, who liked what she saw in front of her. He came to stand right in front of her and whispered in her ear.

"Like what you see? Can't concentrate with me like this, huh?"

Kate closed her eyes taking in his scent, he was so close. She felt his finger run its way from her ear to under her chin and he pulled to face him. When she opened her eyes he was right there, face to face, looking into her eyes. She lifted one hand and put it on his chest. Feeling his heartbeat she could see that their current closeness was affecting him as much as it was her.

"I'll just go get dressed so we can talk," he whispered with their lips so close they were almost touching.

As he walked away, Kate composed herself and made her way to the kitchen. She found 2 mugs and started preparing coffee. She wasn't exactly sure how his coffee machine worked but it couldn't be too hard to figure out.

Rick didn't take long getting dressed at all and he came out to find Kate in his kitchen preparing coffee for them.

"I'll get that," he said walking over to stand next to her.

"Thanks," Kate said allowing him to step in and take over.

As Castle finished making the coffees, Kate took a stool at the counter. Rick came to join her handing her a mug, and sat in the stool next to her.

"So, you want to talk about yesterday?" he asked.

"Rick," Kate started, still really not sure what she was going to say. "I just wanted to say sorry for the way I acted yesterday. I'm still not happy about you going behind my back but I realise I could have dealt with it in a more professional manner."

"Hey it's…" Rick started.

"No, just listen to me first. Then you can talk"

Rick nodded and gave her a little smile. "Bossy Beckett is cute," he winked.

"You shouldn't have gone behind my back, so I'm still angry at you," she said trying to look serious, but failing miserably. Rick had pouted his bottom lip like a child and it made him too adorable to be angry at. She slapped his shoulder. "You should have spoken to me first. It doesn't mean I would have said yes, but at least then I wouldn't have gotten so mad at you and yelled at you at the precinct. And thinking about it last night I realised there's more to what happened yesterday than just being upset about you going behind my back." She took a deep breath. "You tried to apologize and I didn't listen. And then I couldn't stop thinking about it all day, and it wasn't until last night that I realised why. I care about you Rick, and I have a dangerous job. I don't want you to get hurt and I can't guarantee that I would be able to keep you safe all the time. Believe me when I say I would do everything I could to do so, but sometimes accidents happen, and people get hurt. I just don't want you to be that person."

Rick took one hand and placed it over Kate's on the bench in front of them.

"I spent a lot of time thinking about this too," he started. "I know I said it yesterday, but this time I really mean it. I'm sorry that I went behind your back and that I pushed at the precinct. I was wrong, and you were right when you said I didn't take it seriously enough. I didn't think about how it would affect you at your job." They turned to face one another and Kate's knees were now between Rick's. "I care about you too, you know. I just, I guess I wanted to follow you around so I could spend more time with you. It wasn't a very good surprise was it?"

Kate shook her head.

"I will make it up to you though. Next time, I promise it'll be a much better surprise," he smiled.

"Sounds good."

"So, we're ok then?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, we're ok." Kate said as she placed her hands on Rick's knees and leaned forwards towards him. Rick was fast to respond and leant in to meet her, placing a chaste kiss on her lips.

"So, this is what I think we should do," Kate started again. "I will allow you to follow me, but there will be strict rules."

Rick nodded.

Kate started listing off a bunch of rules she expected Rick to follow. He accepted most of them, but there were a few that he tried to change to make things seem less boring for him.

When they finished going through all of the rules, she noticed Rick looking at her with a curious expression.

"What?" she asked.

"Can I just ask you one question?"

"You just did. But sure you can ask another, but then I do have to go, they will be expecting me at the precinct soon. We've still got a case to solve."

"You know, you've just explained to me how dangerous your job is, so what made you become a cop? Why be a detective and put yourself in all those situations day after day?"

Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "That had to be your question didn't it?"

"You lost someone? Close to you? Is that why?" Rick questioned. He couldn't be sure but he thought it had something to do with her mother. It would explain the way she reacted whenever her mother was mentioned and the information that Lanie let slip.

"Rick," Kate whispered. "Can we not talk about this right now. I'm just not ready," she said looking down at her hands.

Rick took her hands in his. "Hey, it's ok," he said moving his head to try and see her face. "When you're ready, I'm here and I promise, I'm here to listen and to help wherever I can."

She caught his eyes and looked up at him, both lifting their heads. "Thank you."

He lifted one of her hands to his mouth and kissed it softly. "So dinner tonight?"

"If I don't have to be at the precinct, I'd love to have dinner with you."

"Is it okay with you if Alexis joins us? She's been bugging me about it since Sunday."

"Dinner with the family? Already?"

"It's just Alexis, don't freak out. And you can say no. If you want it to just be us, then that's ok"

"It's okay, I'm not freaking out," she said. "I'd love to have dinner with Alexis, but don't tell her and get her excited about it, just incase I can't make it tonight."

"Right, well I'll call you later. I'll be with Lanie today. We'll discuss my moving over to the NYPD more after dinner."

They walked over to the door, and Rick let her out, kissing her on the cheek just before she left.

Just as she was leaving, Martha came out of her room and down the stairs.

"Who was that Richard?"

"Detective Beckett just came by quickly to discuss work stuff." His mother knew they had started a relationship but, he knew Kate wasn't ready to meet his flamboyant mother.

"And you didn't call me down to meet her," she said coming over and joining Rick in the kitchen where he was putting the coffee mugs in the sink.

"I don't want to freak her out. You should have seen her when she met Alexis the other day. Don't worry mother, I'll introduce you when the time is right."

"Okay, well I've just gotta go see the doorman, I think he has a message for me," Martha said making her way to the front door.

"Oh no you don't," Rick said catching her arm. "You are not going chasing after her. Trust me with this okay"

"Oh, alright then," Martha said.

Rick gave his mum a kiss on the cheek, and then went back to his room to finish getting ready for the day.


	28. Chapter 28

**You guys are in luck... I just finished another chapter! **

* * *

Beckett and the boys worked on the case all day following leads and interviewing multiple suspects but unfortunately did not manage to get a confession from anyone.

Castle had messaged Beckett a few times during the day asking how it was going. Lanie had not found anything new on the body that required Beckett to come down to the morgue and he was desperate to know how close they were to closing the case. He was really looking forward to having dinner with her and Alexis. He wasn't completely sure it was a good idea to have Alexis there so soon after their argument, but they seemed to have sorted everything out in the morning, and figured it would be safe.

Each time Kate received a message from Castle, she responded almost immediately with very short texts. She didn't want to get too caught up in sending text messages, she just wanted to get the case solved.

By 6pm, they had done all they could for the day and were waiting for results to come back from the forensic team. Kate told the boys to go home and she was going to go as well, they couldn't do anything until the results came through.

It was possible that Castle had organized dinner without her, but it was only 6pm and it's possible he had only just gotten home himself, so she called him before leaving the precinct.

"Is it too late to say I can make it to dinner tonight?" she asked after she greeted Castle on the phone.

"It's never too late for you. So, you're coming?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't," she laughed. "Would you like me to bring anything?"

"Just your appetite. I started making lasagna hoping that you'd be able to make it. And Alexis is going to throw together a salad. When should we be expecting you?"

"I'm just leaving the precinct now. I'll be there soon."

When she hung up the phone, Ryan and Esposito were still there, staring at her.

"So, was that Castle?" Ryan asked.

"I hear he's going to be joining us soon," added Esposito. "It seems he's found a new muse?"

Kate glared at them. "A muse? No way! He's simply doing research and finding out how the NYPD works."

Before the boys could ask any more questions or make any more comments, she picked up her things and made her way over to the elevator.

Castle greeted Kate with a kiss to the cheek and then took her jacket hanging it up in the closet.

"Please, make yourself comfortable. Dinner will probably be another twenty minutes."

Kate slipped off her heels and left them at the door then made her way into the kitchen, where she could see Alexis was chopping up some food for the salad.

Upon hearing Kate walking into the kitchen Alexis lifted her head. "Good evening Detective Beckett."

"Hey Alexis. And I'm sure I said to could call me Kate."

Castle joined them in the kitchen. "It's a respect thing, she'll get used to calling you Kate eventually," he said smiling at his daughter.

"So, can I help with anything?" Kate asked.

"No, you are our guest. You just relax," Alexis said.

Castle shrugged, "Well, she's the boss, gotta do what she says." He picked up a couple of glasses and poured a glass of wine and handed it over to Kate. "A glass of wine is always a good start for relaxation."

Kate watched as Rick and his daughter made their way around the kitchen putting together a salad. Kate asked Alexis about school and was surprised at how grown up and mature she was for her age. Castle had done a great job at bringing her up. She wasn't sure how long he'd been on her own with Alexis, but she knew from things she read that Alexis' mum wasn't around for long after they married. She remembered Castle had been married a second time and she wasn't sure how long that had lasted either, but she was pretty certain Castle had basically raised Alexis on his own.

Meeting Alexis and getting to know her actually made Kate like him a little bit more. Underneath all the child like behaviour, there was an amazing man, who had raised a beautiful daughter. She pictured a younger Richard Castle with a young daughter, going out on play dates and just having fun. It made her smile, and she wished she could have known him back then.

"Kate?" Alexis asked snapping Kate out of her daze. "Come join me at the table, dad is going to bring the lasagna through in a few minutes."

"Right," Kate said getting down off the stool and following Alexis and the salad to the table where plates and cutlery were waiting. "_When did they put them out?"_ she thought to herself. She must have been daydreaming for quite some time.

Kate took a seat at the table opposite Alexis while waiting for Castle to come out with the lasagna.

"So Kate, dad seems to like you quite a lot, I can tell by the way he talks about you, and the looks he gives you. I don't think he's looked at anyone like that before." Alexis said, taking the chance while her father was out of the room.

Kate simply blushed. She knew Rick liked her but, she hadn't realised just how much. Hearing Alexis talk about it, made her a little nervous. Without realising she was doing it, she found herself fiddling with her mums ring that she had on a chain around her neck. She didn't usually fiddle with it, only when she was extremely nervous.

Alexis watched her carefully. "It's a beautiful ring. Is it a family heirloom?" she asked.

Kate looked up and dropped the ring back underneath her top. "It was my mothers," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Castle was just walking into the room with the lasagna when he heard his daughter question Kate about her ring, and he was glad he came in when he did. He knew talk of Kate's mother closed her off, and he didn't want that. Not tonight.

"Dinner's ready," he said placing the lasagna on the table. He stood next to Kate and put his hands on her shoulders leaning down to whisper in her ear. "You okay?" he asked, running his hands down her arms and back up again.

She nodded. "Yeah, I am hungry though. This smells amazing."

He moved to take the seat next to her running his hand across the top of her back before sitting down, which caused her to shiver. She thought for a second how nice it would be to just curl up in his arms for the evening, and hoped that she would be able to later that night while watching a movie.

Castle cut each of them a slice of lasagna and placed it on their plates, then allowed the women to help themselves to the salad.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the food. Rick had outdone himself, the lasagna tasted wonderful.

The silence was broken by Alexis when she asked Kate what she thought of her father's cooking.

"Well, I have to say, he continually surprises me. And this time, this lasagna, he has outdone himself."

She felt Castle place his hand on her thigh underneath the table, and she looked over to him to see him smiling.

"You continually surprise me too," he said giving her leg a small squeeze, and leaned in to softly kiss her nose, which made her giggle slightly. After he sat back again, they found themselves lost and staring into each others eyes.

There was a look in Rick's eyes that Kate had never seen before. It was more than a look of interest or lust, maybe this was the look that Alexis was talking about.

Alexis cleared her throat on the opposite side of the table alerting the two adults that she was still there, and they went back to eating until they were all content.

"So, where is your mother tonight Castle?" Kate asked, getting the conversation going again.

"Oh grams," Alexis started before her dad could say anything. "She said something about catching up with some old acting buddies. She probably wont be back til late."

"I'm sure she likes to pretend she's still in her 20's," Castle said with a laugh. "But we really do love having her around."

"I think it's sweet," Kate said. "Giving your mum somewhere to live so she's not on her own."

"Yeah, dad can be pretty sweet sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Rick questioned.

"Oh right, yes, he's always sweet," Alexis said correcting herself and then rolled her eyes making Kate laugh.

"What? You don't think I'm sweet Kate?"

"I didn't say that. I think you're very sweet!"

"Talking of sweet, does anyone want ice cream?" he asked.

"As much as I enjoy eating ice cream with you, I think I might take some up to my room and leave you two alone," she winked at Kate.

"Kate, how about you?"

"I'm not sure I could eat any more right now. Maybe later."

The three of them packed up the dinner plates and took them into the kitchen. Alexis helped herself to some ice cream and went up to her room giving her father and Kate some time to themselves.

* * *

**More of the evening to come in the next chapter. :)**


	29. Chapter 29

**You guys are great! Did I ever tell you that?**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. **

* * *

Kate was going through Rick's collection of dvd's looking for one to watch. She wasn't surprised to see a large range of spy movies, including the entire collection of James Bond movies and then there were a few movies that she laughed at, realising that Rick definitely did have this very childish side to him. She decided to choose something light hearted and fun.

After Rick had placed the dishes in the dishwasher he joined Kate who was just putting the dvd in the player.

"So, what movie are we watching tonight?" he asked picking up the remote control and making himself comfortable at one end of the couch.

Kate didn't answer, she just smiled and joined him on the couch, sitting closer than Castle had expected, not that he minded at all. He reached his arm around and over her shoulder, pulling her closer to his body, and then used his other hand with the remote to start the movie.

"Enchanted?" he said. "You surprised me once again."

"Who doesn't love a movie with a woman who just randomly comes out in song? It's fun."

"Are you sure it's not because Dr. McDreamy is in it?"

Kate pulled back from Castle. "Seriously? You know about McDreamy?"

"Who doesn't?" he shrugged.

Kate laughed. "You're so metrosexual."

"I gotta know what women want, and I hear a lot of women are into the McDreamy look"

She shook her head at him and rested her body back against his chest. "Wait a second. Are you jealous Castle?" she quickly sat again looking up at his face.

"Of McDreamy.? No way," he pulled her back down to rest on him. "He's not the one snuggling with an amazing and beautiful woman. That would be me," he said and kissed the top of her head. "Now lets just watch the movie."

Kate was surprised at just how comfortable she was leaning against Ricks chest as they snuggled on the couch. He was really warm and huggable. As the movie started she turned a little more into him crossing one of her legs over the other and tucking her toes under the calf of one of his legs. She then placed one of her hands high on his thigh and he took her other hand in his free hand. It probably wasn't possible for them to be any closer without lying on top of one another.

They watched the movie in silence, well almost silence. Castle had obviously watched the movie a number of times before and was humming along with the songs. Kate thought it was quite cute, and found the rumbling in his chest as he hummed quite relaxing.

Kate spoke up at the end of the movie, "You know what I like about that movie?"

"Hmm…" Rick hummed in responsed.

"The little girl doesn't have to grow up without a mother now. Not having a mother around as a child. I imagine it would be difficult."

When she felt Ricks chest rise up and down as he let out a great sigh, she realised what she had said.

"Sorry Rick… I didn't mean… You know, Alexis is great. You've done a great job with her."

"It's okay Kate. I think at times it was difficult for her. She's got her mum, she's just not around all that much, but we manage."

Kate lifted a hand to her face, and Rick pulled her away realising that she was wiping away a tear. He knew it must have something to do with her own mum but he was unsure how to approach the subject.

"You lost your mum?" he asked quietly and she nodded a little. "Is that why you became a cop?"

"Yeah," Kate whispered trying to hold in the tears that were threatening to fall.

He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her as tight as he could, and she wrapped hers around him in return. They didn't need words at this moment, he just needed Kate to know that he was there.

"My mother…. She…. They… I" Kate tried stringing a sentence together, pulling her head away from him, but she couldn't gather the words.

"Your mum must have been remarkable Kate, just like you. But you don't need to tell me about it tonight, I know you'll tell me when you're ready."

"Thanks" she whispered resting her head on his chest once more. She calmed herself without letting go of any more tears. She wasn't ready for Rick to see her completely breaking down. She knew there would be a time in the near future where they would talk more about her mum, but right now she just wanted to breathe in his scent and rest in his arms.

After a few more minutes of comfortable silence, Kate pulled away from Rick and took his hands in her own. She leaned in and kissed him gently. "Thank you," she said and kissed him again. They stayed close resting their foreheads together with their eyes closed, feeling everything that words could not say.

"Stay here the night." Rick said finally. They both opened their eyes and Rick tried to read the look on Kate's face. He couldn't quite tell if she was ready to take that step in their relationship yet. "It's late, you're tired. My bed is plenty big enough for two, or I have a spare room if you prefer. Stay?"

Kate nodded. "The spare room sounds great."

As much as Kate wanted to stay with Rick in his own room, she decided to stay in the spare room. In all her other relationships she had rushed into things. She found herself going to bed with guys before telling them anything about her mother. It had allowed her to keep one foot out the door, not sharing her entire life, not sharing her past with them. It made it easier to run. She had a built a wall and had never let anyone through it completely to reach her heart. She'd almost done the same thing and rushed things with Rick after their previous date, but he had stopped her. She wasn't sure he would be able to stop her again if they were sharing a bed. There was something different about him, compared to her previous guys. She made the decision to wait until she knew she was ready to surrender not just a part of her, but everything, and she wasn't able to do that without first sharing everything about her mother. She had started, and she knew it wouldn't be long before she told him everything. She wanted Rick to be able to make it through her wall and to her heart.

"The idea of going home to an empty house tonight, just doesn't sound very appealing," she said smiling at him.

"Well I'll show you the room and then I'll find you something more comfortable to wear."

Rick took Kate up the stairs and into the spare room, and pointed to the bathroom across the hall.

"I'll be back soon with some clothes," he said leaving her in the bedroom.

Kate sat down on the end of the bed looking around the room and for the first time in a while, she felt like she was in the right place. She felt at home. It was funny to think that just a few weeks ago, she spent her evenings reading mystery novels in her bubble bath and now here she was staying in the guest room of the writer of those novels and she was embarking in quite a serious relationship with him. She never in her wildest dreams expected this to ever be a reality, but right now there was nothing else she wanted more. She just wanted to spend more time curled up next to him and was excited about the possibility of more.

When Rick re entered the guest room, Kate was sitting on the end of the bed with a great smile on her face. She didn't notice him, so he just watched her for a moment, as he rested his shoulder on the door frame. She looked so relaxed, so at home.

He pressed himself off the frame and started making his way towards her, and she smiled up at him as he got closer. He handed her over some clothes he had found and she placed them on the bed beside her. He had a pair of leggings from Alexis and a t-shirt of his own. He'd also found a spare tooth brush and gave that to her as well.

"Well, I think that should be everything. If you need anything else, let me know," he said to her, as he grabbed her hand and lifted her up to him. He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him.

Kate reached up to wrap her hands around his neck and he returned the sentiment wrapping his arms behind her back pulling her even closer. He leant forwards and waited as she closed the distance, her mouth open as it reached his own. Her fingers played with the hairs at the nape of his neck and she nipped at his bottom lip, soothing it with her tongue causing him to let out a slight moan into her mouth. His lips were so soft and smooth and she couldn't get enough of them.

Castles hands ran their way down her back made their way under the hem of her shirt looking for skin. When they found bare skin, he felt her shiver against him. Her body was on high alert, every touch resulted in a complete body reaction.

Kate sat back down on the bed behind her pulling Rick with her never parting their lips. She shifted back slightly allowing Rick room to climb onto the bed. As she lay back, Rick allowed their lips to part. He crawled up and over her body, one leg between hers and he rested himself on his arms above her. Kate reached one arm up and back around Ricks neck pulling him down to her once more and he let his arms give way and rested his body on hers increasing the pressure between her legs right where she needed it. He rolled slightly towards one side giving himself room to start unbuttoning her shirt. With the buttons undone, he placed his hand over her stomach, feeling it twitch beneath his fingers. He ran his hand up towards her chest and then lightly moved his hand around to her side grazing over her breast. It wasn't until she heard herself moan that she realised what they were doing, and she needed to stop it.

She wrapped one leg over Ricks hip and rolled them over, and lifted herself up off his body.

"I'm sorry, Rick. We shouldn't. I shouldn't. We can't. Not yet."

"It's okay. I'm sorry. I should have stopped, but got lost in the moment. I should go back to my own room before either of us get lost again."

Kate smiled and gave him one more chaste kiss to the lips before climbing off him. She then watched as he made his way to the door.

He turned back to her as he reached the door way. "Good night Kate. Sleep well."

"You too Rick," she returned.

He took one last look at the woman staying in his guest room. Now standing with her shirt open he could see the effect that he had on her body. Her skin was flushed from her chest up to her cheeks. It must have been hard for her to stop what they were about to do. It made him realise just how strong the woman standing there was. Finally, he smiled once more towards her and turned to leave, going back to his own room.

She felt bad. She should never have allowed them to get as far as they did, she knew he was probably going to need a cold shower after that. She would make it up to him though. Soon.

* * *

**Moment of honesty from me: I'm relatively inexperienced when it comes to relationships, so I really have no idea what I'm writing. haha**


	30. Chapter 30

Kate woke the next morning feeling great. She had slept extremely well which was unexpected. She often found if she slept in a bed other than her own, she would struggle to get to sleep. But Castle had obviously picked out one of the best beds even just for his guest room.

She was going to quickly use the bathroom then leave a note for Castle in the kitchen to say thanks and then she had to get home to shower and change for the work day.

As soon as she opened the door out of the guest room however, she was met with what appeared to be the smell of bacon and eggs cooking. She used the bathroom and then made her way downstairs finding Castle in the kitchen, making what could only been seen as a mess.

He had bowls, pans and utensils all over the place, going all out with breakfast.

When he saw Kate coming down the stairs, he smiled up at her.

"Good morning. Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I did," Kate responded making her way to him.

Castle turned back to the stove where he had a batch of pancakes cooking and Kate walked up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, stood up on her toes and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"What are you making?" she asked.

"Everything. I didn't know what you wanted, so I thought I'd do it all."

Kate loosened her grip and Rick turned to face her. He kissed her on the forehead before turning back to the pancakes making sure they didn't burn. He reached over to the side picking up a mug of coffee and took a sip.

"Hey," Kate said. "Where's mine?"

"Oh, this is yours," he said handing it over to her. "Just thought I'd test out how your sharing was going."

Kate took the coffee from his hands and walked around to sit on a stool at the counter. "Oh, did I not tell you? There's one thing I don't share. That's my morning coffee."

Castle flipped the last of the pancakes onto the plate beside him and walked over to Kate. "You don't share your morning coffee? We'll have to work on that." He kissed her hoping to distract her from the coffee and reached for the mug but Kate was too quick pulled it out of his way before he got to it.

"Oh, don't even think you can trick me into sharing my coffee," she said into his lips.

Castle pulled away and made his way back to where he had all the food. "So, what will it be? Pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast?"

"Oh gosh, where do I start? Bring it all over and we'll see."

Castle moved all the food so it was now sitting in front of Kate and placed a plate in front of her and took one out for himself. Taking a seat beside her he placed some bacon and some eggs on his plate and started eating.

They sat quietly eating, the only conversation occurred when Kate asked Rick how he made his eggs taste so good.

After eating Kate looked at her watch and realised more time had passed than she had expected and she was left with very little time to get home, shower and change.

She jumped off the chair, "Sorry Castle, I didn't realise it was so late. I need to get home and change before heading into work." She looked down at herself realising she was still in the clothing he had given to her for the night. She wouldn't normally go out like that but she was only going from the loft to her apartment so it didn't bother her. "I'll wash these and bring them back next time."

Castle walked with her quickly over to the door, opening it for her as she picked up her shoes, which were still there from the night before.

Kate kissed Castle on the cheek and then she was out the door in a flash.

Castle closed the door just as Martha was coming down the stairs. '_Good timing once again Kate'_ he thought to himself.

"Was that Detective Beckett again? I noticed her shoes by the door when I came home last night? Did you have a sleep over Richard?"

"She stayed in the spare room mother," he said knowing exactly what was going through his mothers mind.

Martha made her way over to her son. "Oh, and it looks like you made her quite the breakfast this morning," she said raising her eyebrows.

Castle kissed his mother on the cheek. "Yes, I made her breakfast, and you are welcome to eat anything that's left."

Castle left his mother there before she could start asking more questions and he made his way to the bathroom to get himself ready for the day.

* * *

Lanie and Castle had been working on a case with a different team during the morning. Castle didn't mind working with other teams, he knew it was part of Lanie's but, he missed working with Kate. So when lunch time came around, he decided he would make a trip to the precinct.

He called Kate hoping that she wasn't out chasing a suspect.

"Beckett," she answered within a couple of rings.

"Hey there detective."

"Hey there yourself, Castle."

"Are you at the precinct? What are you doing for lunch?"

"Yeah, I'm just filling in some paper work and waiting for a warrant. I don't really have lunch plans."

"Now you do," he said. "I'm on my way. See you soon," Castle said and hung up before Kate could argue.

"Wait… Castle?" Beckett said, but it was too slow. He had hung up already. She wasn't sure how much time she had before the warrant came through and once it did, she would be leaving the precinct. She could have called Castle back to stop him from coming down but, she thought lunch with him sounded like a great idea, and she was sure he would understand if she had to cut it short when the warrant came through.

It was another 30 minutes before Castle appeared through the elevator doors with his hands full of take out. It seemed he once again had not just bought lunch for Beckett and himself, he had bought it for the entire team.

"Need a hand with that Castle," Esposito called out, getting up and taking a bag from him.

"Thanks," he said. They made their way past Kate, and Castle winked at her, then continued to follow Esposito to the break room.

"So, what brings you here today?" the detective asked.

"I thought you had figured it out," Castle replied. "I bought you all lunch."

They set the food on the table and invited the other uniforms and detectives to come in and help themselves.

Beckett appeared through the break room door a few minutes later, picked up a container of Mu Shu Pork, smiled at Castle, and then walked out again back to her desk.

Castle excused himself, picking up the container closest to him and followed Beckett out. He didn't know what he picked up and he didn't really care.

Arriving at Beckett's desk, he saw that she had pulled a chair over and placed it next to it so he took a seat. He took a moment to take in Beckett's features and noticed that she was trying to hide how she was really feeling behind a smile.

"Hard case?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just, I can't figure this one out. All of our suspects have an alibi and nothing seems out of place. I've got a warrant coming through and hope to find something from that, but I just don't know."

"You'll figure it out, you always do," Castle said trying to reassure her.

"It's just so frustrating," she responded placing her head in her hands while resting her elbows on the desk.

"Can I help?"

She looked up at him, "you can try."

Castle stood up out of his seat and walked over behind Kate looking over her shoulder at the screen.

The feel of his breath on the back of her neck made her shiver. When Castle placed his hands on her shoulders though, she had to shrug him off. The feeling of his hands on her shoulders was comforting, and even though it was an innocent gesture and he was just trying to help her feel more at ease, she couldn't allow it. They had agreed, no touching at the precinct.

"Castle, precinct" she whispered.

They continued looking at Beckett's computer screen discussing the case. Castle came up with a number of theories. Some of his theories were crazy however, Beckett didn't ignore them. They continued their discussion of the case while finishing their lunch, sharing the mu shu pork and the fried rice that Castle had picked up. By the time they had finished lunch, Beckett was feeling more at ease. She wasn't sure how he did it, but she was sure it had something to do with Castle being there.

Although she was still worried about his safety, she was starting to feel a little excited about the idea of him being there helping her more with cases. It was going to be an interesting adventure for the both of them.

When they finished lunch Castle picked up the empty containers and took them to the bin in the break room, checking on the other officers and detectives that were in there. He helped clear away what was left of the food and then made his way back to Beckett.

As he got closer, he was relieved to see that the smile she now had was simply a smile and was no longer trying to hide any worry or concern over the current case.

"So, it's my last day with Lanie tomorrow," as he sat back down next to Beckett's desk. "I say we should celebrate. Lanie and the boys too. Drinks at the old haunt?"

"Sounds like a great idea. I'll let the boys know."

"Great! Now we just have to hope you don't have to work tomorrow night."

"Yeah," she smiled.

"Well, as much as I would like to stay, Lanie is probably expecting me back at the morgue."

"Thanks for lunch Castle, it was lovely"

"The company was lovelier," he whispered and winked at her.

Beckett rolled her eyes. "You better get back to Lanie."

"Yeah, I'll call you tonight."

Castle really wanted to lean in and give Beckett a kiss, at least just a kiss to her cheek and the look she had on her face told him that she wanted the same thing. But rules were rules. No contact at the precinct. So, he smiled and turned to walk towards the elevator leaving Beckett to continue with her case.


	31. Chapter 31

**Well, it seems I had a rather lazy weekend and got a few chapters done for you all... but back to work tomorrow so it'll slow down again now, maybe until the weekend again. Who knows? **

**Disclaimer: I own DVD's, a calendar and a puzzle... but I don't own the characters or the tv show.**

* * *

Castle's crazy theories had actually been extremely helpful in the case the detectives were working on and they had a great breakthrough on Friday morning, which led to them making an arrest by the early afternoon. Beckett was relieved because she was really looking forward to drinks with the gang and was glad that work was not going to stop it from happening. She had been given the weekend off which meant if another body dropped it would go to another team.

She was finishing up the paperwork when Castle had texted her.

_Are we all still on for tonight? _

_Just solved the case. I'll meet you there around 6. _

_Looking forward to it, detective. _

A couple of hours later, with only a few things left to review, Kate told the boys she would get the last couple of things in order and she would meet them at the Old Haunt as soon as she was done. However, going over the last few details took a little longer than expected, and she did not find herself leaving the precinct until 6pm.

When she arrived at the pub a few minutes later, she was surprised to see that Castle was waiting outside.

"Castle, what are you doing out here? Aren't the guys and Lanie here yet?" she asked as she approached him.

"Yeah, they're inside, but I wanted to get a moment with you alone first."

Kate raised her eyebrows looking around them at all the people scurrying by. "Alone? There'd be more privacy in there, than out here."

"Yeah, but they're not going to make fun if I do this," he said putting his hands on Kates' hips and pulling her in, locking their lips together fiercely. It was a short but powerful kiss that had Kate going weak at the knees.

"C'mon then, we better get in there," Castle said taking her by the hand and leading her into the pub to where Lanie and the boys were sitting in a booth.

As they made their way to the table, Lanie was the first to notice them. "Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to join us. So, how long were you two out there playing tonsil hockey?"

"Lanie!" Kate glared at her. '

"What?" Lanie asked trying to sound innocent. "I thought it was a good question."

Kate just rolled her eyes and then took a seat next to her friend, nodding a hello at the boys. When she realised Castle wasn't close behind she looked around to find that he was standing staring at Lanie with his eyes wide. It seemed that he was surprised by her question and she had rendered him speechless. Surely, after working with Lanie for a few weeks he knew she spoke out whatever she thought.

"Castle," she called out, getting his attention.

Snapping out of his frozen state, he made his way over to take a seat next to her. As he sat he felt her hand immediately make its way to rest just above his knee. She turned to him and gave him a smile and lightly stroked his knee with her thumb letting him know that everything was okay.

Castle looked around the table and noticed Lanie and the boys each had drinks. "I'll just go get us a drink," he said to Kate. "And I'll get them to bring over some pizza too. I guess none of you haven't eaten yet," he said to the rest of the table.

"Pepperoni Pizza would be great," Ryan said.

"If you get a pizza like that then I hope you have some mints with you Castle, or you wont be getting any where near your girls lips tonight," Lanie said, again receiving a glare from Beckett.

Lanie was actually enjoying herself. She had never been out with Kate and a boyfriend before.

Castle didn't have a response for Lanie again, so he simply got out of his seat and made his way over to the bar to place his order and get some drinks.

Kate watched as he walked away and then turned to Lanie. "Seriously Lanie, what are you doing?"

"I'm just having some fun, Kate."

"Well, can you find another way to have fun."

"I can help you have fun," Esposito jumped in winking at Lanie.

"So, seriously Beckett, things are going well between you two?," Ryan questioned. "He did come in with lunch yesterday for the entire team, and then just sat with you the whole time he was there."

Kate couldn't stop herself from blushing no matter how hard she tried.

"Oooooooh, I think things are going really well," Esposito said seeing Kate's cheeks go red.

When Kate had agreed to come to drinks, she had not expected an interrogation. She now understood why Rick waited for her outside and she wondered if he had already been interrogated by Lanie and the boys.

"It's none of your business," she said. "But if it shuts you up, then yes, things are going well. But that's all I'm going to say. Now I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring it up again." She looked at each of them with a serious look which she knew would work on the two detectives but wasn't sure it would do anything to quiet Lanie.

Thankfully, just at that moment, Rick returned with two drinks. Upon seeing the faces of Ryan and Esposito, who now looked like they had just been punished by a school teacher, he asked them if they were ok.

"Oh yeah, all good here," Ryan said. "Hows the pizza order going?"

Rick looked from the boys and then to Kate who had a smug grin on her face and realised what must have gone down while he was away.

He took his seat next to Kate again. "The pizzas will be over shortly," he announced to the table then leaned over to whisper in Kate's ear, "And don't worry, I have mints in my pocket."

Later on in the evening after they'd each had a few drinks and had finished the pizza Castle had ordered, Lanie pulled Kate away to dance.

"Lanie, there's not really much of a dance floor here."

"Oh, c'mon Kate, we'll make our own dance floor," she said pulling her away from the boys and into the small empty space nearby, close enough for them to see what the boys were up to but far enough away to not be able to hear them.

Once the girls were up and dancing, Ryan and Esposito got closer to Castle, one on either side of him.

"So Mr Castle," started Esposito.

Castle looked from one cop to the other and swallowed. He knew exactly what was coming.

"You see Beckett there," Ryan spoke up. "She's like family to us."

"We consider her a sister."

"And as her brothers, it's our duty to make sure she doesn't get hurt."

Castle nodded.

"So, Castle. You better not hurt our girl."

Castle took his chance and spoke up before either Ryan or Esposito could continue their interrogation. "I have no intention of hurting your girl. Honestly, that's the last thing I would want to do."

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other and nodded then Esposito spoke again.

"We know you two have gotten close over the past few weeks, and we know there was that hiccup at the precinct earlier this week, but it seems you've come back from that. Don't let that happen again."

"You know we're homicide detectives right, and you know Lanie, well you've been working with Lanie so you know what she is capable of. Between the three of us…"

"We can get away with anything," both detectives said at once.

They way they delivered their lines, Castle could have sworn they had rehearsed it, and when he noticed that Lanie was watching intently from where she was dancing with Kate, it made him believe that it was all planned and they probably had rehearsed while he was outside waiting for Kate to arrive.

"Right, ok. Thank you boys. It's good to know Kate has guys like you looking out for her but really, I can't promise that I'm not going to hurt her, but I can promise to try my best to keep her happy and be the best guy I can possibly be for her."

Again, Ryan and Esposito nodded at each other.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Castle continued. "I think I will go join them on their makeshift dance floor."

Ryan stood up and allowed Castle to move out of the booth.

As Castle walked over he slipped a mint into his mouth, just in case. He walked over to the pianist and requested a song, and then made his way over to Kate.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey yourself"

"Dance with me?" he said, holding out his hand to her.

She looked up at him, his eyes sparkling and his smile enchanting. "Sure."

She took his offered hand in hers and wrapped her other arm around his neck. He responded by placing his free arm around her waist and pulled her close. Their joined hands were close to their bodies, almost trapped between their chests.

"So you really did have mints Castle," Kate said smelling the minty freshness of his breath. "Mind if I have one?"

"Right pocket," he responded, not wanting to let Kate go.

Kate reached her hand into his pocket, and managed to get a mint out of its packet and into her mouth with one hand. They continued to sway slowly to the music that was being played, with their foreheads together.

"So, your boys just put on an interesting show for me."

"Really? I wondered what was happening."

"Yeah, they're good guys. Looking out for you. It's sweet," he lifted his head from hers. "I told them they had nothing to worry about."

"Good," she said as she placed her head on Rick's shoulder and kissed his neck while they continued to sway to the music.

When the song was over Rick leant down and kissed Kate on the temple, and then they made their way back over to the table.

"Wanna get out of here?" he asked as they neared the table.

"Yeah, I'm exhausted."

They reached the table where Lanie and the boys were all deep in conversation and announced that they were leaving. They all said their good byes and Castle paid the bill with a generous tip and then he left with Kate on his arm.

"So Castle," Kate said as they stepped outside the door. "Where's the paparazzi you were so worried about when we first had dinner together. I haven't seen a single photographer all night."

"You know what, I don't know," Castle said. "The Old Haunt is kind of hidden. They never seem to find me there. Should I hail us a cab?"

"Do you think it's safe to walk?"

"Yeah," he said looking around. There were definitely no cameras. "By this time of night most photographers would have found someone and would be following them around, I think we're safe."

They walked arm in arm back to Beckett's apartment and Kate rested her head on Rick's shoulder all the way home thinking about what they were becoming. They came from completely different worlds but it felt more right than anything ever had before.

When they arrived at Beckett's apartment, Castle walked her up to the door. He could see she was tired and was probably going to crash as soon as she made it into her room, so he chose not to enter her apartment. He didn't want her to feel like she had to stay awake for him.

"Alexis and I are going shopping tomorrow? Would you like to join us?"

"That sounds like fun," she said a little excited to be invited out to spend time with his daughter again.

"Ok, meet us at the loft whenever you're ready. We wont go anywhere until you get there."

"Sure."

"Well, you look tired, so you should go get some sleep and rest up. Shopping is hard work. Thanks for coming out tonight Kate," he leaned in and kissed her goodnight, soft and sweet. "Until tomorrow."

"Goodnight Rick."


	32. Chapter 32

**I got carried away the last couple of days reading other stories that I kinda didn't write anything new. But then all my plans were cancelled this evening, so I got a chapter written :) **

* * *

Kate arrived at the loft around 10am on Saturday morning, excited but nervous about spending the day shopping with the Castle's. Sure, things had been going really well with Rick, he was amazing, and dinner had gone well with him and Alexis the other night. But, dinner and a day shopping were two entirely different things.

After knocking a couple of times, Alexis came to the door and greeted her by pulling her in for a hug, and the nerves that she was feeling were vanishing fairly quickly. Kate hugged her back quickly and then entered the loft.

"I'll be just a minute," she heard Rick call from his room.

Kate and Alexis stood by the door waiting for him, while making small talk. Alexis asked Kate how work was going and Kate asked about school.

A few minutes later, Rick made his way silently out of his room to the two waiting for him. He crept up behind Kate signaling for Alexis to keep quiet but just before he got to her back, Kate turned and he found himself face to face with the detective.

"Really Rick? You think you can sneak up on me?" she asked.

"Well, it was worth a try," he said as Kate reached up, placed her hands on either side of his face and reached up to join her lips with his.

"Morning," she said as she pulled away smiling.

Rick smiled then turned to his daughter who had one eye closed and had scrunched her face away from the two adults. She wasn't sure whether she should leave the room before they got carried away.

"It's safe Alexis, you can look," Castle laughed, wrapping on arm around Alexis' shoulder and pulling her towards him, kissing her temple. "Let's go shopping," he said, not hiding any of the excitement he was feeling for the day ahead.

* * *

They took a town car to the mall so they didn't have to worry about finding somewhere to park. Just before they got out of the car, Castle pulled out a bag and put on a cap and some sunglasses. He turned to Kate, and raised his eyebrows quickly a couple of times, which made her laugh then he pulled out a matching cap and sunglasses and handed them over to her.

"What are these for?" she asked.

"It's a disguise."

She looked at him a little confused but then realised what he was doing. It was to hide from the cameras. Once again, he was trying to protect her. She smiled as she took the cap and sunglasses putting them on.

Alexis was first out of the car, followed by Castle, who then held his hand out to help Kate out. When they were all out he thanked the driver and he started walking towards the stores, never once letting go of Kate's hand.

"So, what are we shopping for?" Kate asked, not directing the question at any one in particular.

Alexis was the one who answered. "I was hoping to find a new dress for a friends party that's coming up and dad, well, he likes to come by and check out all the new games and gadgets. And you have to keep him away from the toys, Kate."

"Really? Why's that?"

"He presses all the try me buttons."

Kate looked at Rick who shrugged his shoulders. "What? It's fun!" he said.

She rolled her eyes at him. "So, you're like a big kid running wild and causing mayhem."

"Exactly," Alexis said before Rick could say anything.

A part of Kate wanted to take Rick to the toy store right away. She knew that he had a childlike side to him, but she wanted to see it in full force. Sure, it may have been slightly embarrassing for her at first but knowing him, he would probably convince her to join in and maybe that's what she needed to just allow herself to let go and have some fun.

"Is there anything you need while we're here?"

Kate thought about it for a second. She had been meaning to buy some new underwear for the past few weeks but had never gotten around to it. There was no way she was going to go underwear shopping with Rick around though. She didn't want him to see her underwear until the day he was taking it off.

Her cheeks flushed red at her thoughts and she snapped herself out of her thoughts.

"Uh, no. I may need to get some groceries but other than that, I think I'm good," she said.

Rick, however, did not fail to notice the redness of her cheeks and he leant over to whisper in her ear. "We'll go shopping for what you _really_ need another time."

Kate's eyes grew wide as she turned to look at him.

"What? I don't…" It was pointless even trying to finish that sentence. It was obvious Rick knew exactly what was going on in her mind, so she opted for a gentle nudge to his shoulder instead and shook her head at him.

"So where are we off to first?" Kate asked as Alexis took the lead.

The three made their way through numerous stores, where Alexis had tried on quite a few dresses but had still been unable to find just the right one. Castle had also taken them into a couple of game stores wanting to try out the newest video games. Neither Kate or Alexis were really that excited about them, but he was behaving himself when they went into the girly stores, so they let him have his way every now and then.

They stopped for about 30 minutes to have some lunch when they all felt hungry and then Alexis sent her dad off on his own saying that she wanted to have some girl time with Kate.

Kate was a little unsure at first. The morning went really well, they'd been having a lot of fun but now she was worried about what Castle's daughter was going to say to her without him around. Was her fun all just an act? Did she actually not like her? She didn't know.

Castle gave her a reassuring look and kissed her on the cheek and lingered there while whispering in her ear. "It'll be okay. She likes you Kate."

Upon hearing his words in her ear she felt herself relax, letting go of the tension she hadn't realised she was holding on to.

"Have fun," Castle called as Alexis grabbed hold of Kate's wrist and pulled her towards another clothing store.

It wasn't long before Alexis found a dress that she loved.

"Hey Kate," Alexis called from the change room where she was trying the dress on.

"Yeah"

"I may need your help."

Kate made her way to the stall where Alexis was and paused just outside.

"Um, Alexis," Kate said, unsure whether Alexis actually wanted her to go in or not.

Alexis pulled the curtain aside and turned her back to Kate, "Do you mind helping me zip this up?"

Kate smiled, not knowing what she was worried about. She had been shopping with friends so many times before, this was just like that. She needed to think of Alexis as a friend, nothing more. That's what Alexis needed, a friend.

She zipped the dress up and stepped back. Alexis turned to face her. "What do you think?" she asked.

"It's gorgeous," Kate said. "It looks beautiful on you. The colour is perfect. But it's not what I think that matters. Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Alexis said. "It's just what I was looking for… I think."

"You think?"

"Well, I want to stand out, you know, be noticed," she said starting to look at the floor, like she was hiding something.

Kate knew immediately what she was trying to hide.

"What's his name?" she asked, which made Alexis look straight back up at Kate.

"How?"

"I was once your age, Alexis, I just know."

"Owen," she said blushing.

"I'm pretty sure Owen will love this dress too, so you wanna get it?"

Alexis nodded and smiled. "Thanks Kate."

Alexis changed and paid for the dress and then they made their way out of the store to go find Castle.

"So tell me more about Owen," Kate said as they walked down the mall.

"Well, he's cute, and really sweet. Oh, and smart too."

"You think he likes you?"

"I don't know. I think so. Yeah. He hasn't said so, but he smiles at me and…"

"And you get butterflies right?"

"Yeah."

They were silent for a minute.

"Dad likes you a lot, you know," Alexis said stopping and turning towards Kate.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out," Kate said with a small laugh and then noticed Alexis' slightly worried expression. Kate took hold of Alexis' hand and took her to sit down. "Alexis," she paused and took a deep breath, not sure what to say. "I like your father a lot too." It wasn't much but she really wasn't sure what else to say.

"I know, I can tell. And you make him happy, and I haven't seen him this happy in a while. It makes me happy too. I just, I worry, I know he rushes things sometimes, and I just I don't want him to hurt you or scare you off."

Kate was surprised. Alexis wasn't just thinking of her father, she was worried for her as well.

"You don't have to worry about that Alexis. He's not scared me off yet."

"He almost did. He didn't tell me really what happened, but the way he was the other day, I could see something had happened."

Kate pulled Alexis into a hug. "Alexis, you shouldn't have to worry about us. I love that you do, but you shouldn't. Your dad and I, we're taking things slow."

"Dad… slow?" Alexis said pulling back slightly.

"Yeah"

"Well, then he must _really really _like you. But I guess I knew that." After a moment of silence Alexis spoke up again, "You know, we should probably go find him. Who knows what trouble he's gotten himself into."

"Yeah, so where do we find him?"

"You know the toy store we went passed earlier, he's usually in there, entertaining all the kids and annoying their parents. He tries to get the kids to join him in pressing the 'try me' buttons."

"Oh, so you weren't kidding when you said that earlier?"

"No."

Alexis picked up her shopping bags and started leading Kate back to the toy store where she was certain her father would be. As they walked Kate put her arm around Alexis' shoulder. After their time alone and their chats, she felt much more comfortable and wanted Alexis to know that she was there for her. She wanted Alexis to know that if she had any worries, she was there to listen. An arm over the shoulder shared her trust and her comfort with her, it spoke words that she was unable to say verbally.

"Thanks Kate," Alexis said as they walked. Acknowledging everything Kate's actions were saying.

As expected, Rick was found in the toy store, pressing all the buttons on the toys.

He was running down an aisle giggling when he almost bumped into someone standing at the end, stopping just as he reached them. He was looking down at the floor knowing that he was probably going to be met with another angry store owner or parent. But he knew those feet, they looked familiar. He slowly lifted his head and came face to face with a lovely detective who had one eyebrow raised and was shaking her head at him.

"Are you having fun Rick?"

"Yes," he said with a grin. "But, it'd be more fun if you joined me." And then he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the next aisle, not letting her go as he pressed all the buttons on the toys.

When they reached the end, Kate was laughing. "That really is fun," she said.

"I told you."

Alexis came around the corner, "I see you found him."

"Yeah."

"So, did you find what you were looking for?" he asked his daughter.

"Yeah, I did." She smiled at Kate, who winked back at her, knowing that their conversation was to stay between them only.

"So, we'll go get some groceries and head home then?"

"Sounds good," Kate said and they left the toy store.


	33. Chapter 33

**So, I got up this morning, and went to work (which is literally 12 steps away in my office, working from home is great!) and the first thing I do is check my emails. I have to say... I WAS SHOCKED this morning to find that I had more followers, favourites and reviews. You guys never cease to amaze me. You're awesome! **

**I started writing this chapter and it kinda went places I didn't expect... but I guess that happens sometimes. **

**Disclaimer: Um... Not mine... I'd love to have a Castle I could call my own but sadly, I don't. **

* * *

When Castle woke up on Monday morning, he pretty much jumped out of bed. He couldn't remember the last time he was so excited to be up so early, but today was his first day working with the NYPD, and he was going to have so much fun. That's what he thought anyway.

He got himself dressed and went about his usual morning routine.

He'd spoken with Alexis, who had told him to behave himself and not to do anything stupid that would result in him being hurt, and he had promised her that he would be on his best behaviour.

Castle was just about ready to go when there was a knock at his door. He wasn't expecting anyone and he really just wanted to get to the precinct so he was tempted to ignore it in the hopes that the person would leave so he could just get going, but upon thinking about it, he decided he just couldn't be that rude to someone.

Opening the door he was glad he chose not to ignore it, because there stood the strikingly beautiful Detective Beckett. He couldn't help but wonder if she had purposely put in more effort getting ready. She always looked great but there was something different this time. He smiled and opened the door further to let her in.

"Couldn't wait to see me Detective? Did you miss me that much?" he said closing the door behind her.

Kate rolled her eyes. She hadn't seen him all of Sunday and to be honest, she had missed him a little but, his few messages during the day kept her smiling. She wasn't going to admit to it though. "It was one day Rick. I came to pick you up and give you a lift to the precinct so I could run through the rules again."

"Again? But we've already gone through them."

"I know, but something tells me that you are going to purposely forget them if I don't remind you."

"Oh, you know me too well already," Rick said trying to feign disappointment, but really, he loved that she knew him so well.

"C'mon then, let's get going."

"Wait, before we leave," Rick grabbed Kate's hand as she made her way back to the door and pulled her back towards him, making her turn into him until their chests were flush together. He grabbed her other hand and trapped both behind her back to stop her from trying to escape or pushing him away, and he captured her lips in a deep kiss. When he felt her relax into it he let her hands go and he felt them immediately wrap low around his back and she pulled him even closer.

He started moving forwards pushing her backwards, not letting her go until her back met the closed front door and he placed his hands either side of her body. He deepened the kiss, and pushed his body closer, his jeans getting tighter around his growing arousal. He knew he should pull back, but he didn't want to, and it didn't seem like Kate wanted to either.

Kate felt his leg push it's way in between hers, and with his body so close she knew he was as turned on as she was, she could feel it, but she also knew they had to get to the precinct.

Rick removed his lips from hers and moved his mouth just below her ear. "We should be going," he whispered, before taking her lobe into his mouth.

Beckett struggled to get any words out and just made a small almost whimpering sound.

Rick starting placing kisses down her neck, until he found her pulse point where he stopped and nipped lightly.

"R…Rick," she managed to get out softly "We…. Mmmm" she allowed her moan to escape, "We have to stop."

Rick pulled his lips away from her, to see her face. She was stunning. "Open your eyes," he whispered to her.

Kate opened them and found herself face to face with the writer.

"Sorry," he said with a light kiss to her lips. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I mean, it was, but not right now. I just, I knew that I wouldn't have a chance to kiss you today at the precinct and I really wanted to. I… Sorry."

Kate smiled. "It's ok, but we really should be going. Are you okay to go now, or do you need a minute?"

Rick kissed her again short and sweet. "Give me a minute, I'll be right back," he said.

Kate waited for him now unsure what she was more worried about, him keeping his hands to himself, or her not being able to keep her hands away from him.

"So, let's go over these rules," she said, as he came back and they left the loft. "Rule number one. Absolutely no physical contact. No kissing, no touching… Nothing."

* * *

Beckett was sitting at her desk when Castle came out of the elevator with her coffee. When they had arrived at the precinct, she went straight up to the homicide floor while he went across the road to get their morning caffeine fix.

He placed one coffee down on her desk and took his seat. The chair was still in the same place from the previous week when he had come in with lunch. He had barely been sitting for a minute before the captain called both him and Beckett into his office.

Castle took a seat while Kate opted to stand just behind him however, the captain gestured for Kate to sit in the seat beside Castle, so she did as instructed.

"Mr Castle," Montgomery started. "Welcome to your first day with us at the NYPD. I expect Detective Beckett here has explained there are rules to you being here with us."

"Yes sir. She has explained _all _the rules from the NYPD, and I'm pretty sure she's added some more of her own."

Castle heard a noise beside him and turned to realise that Kate was trying not to laugh.

"Good," said Montgomery. "Having rules is what keeps us protected and safe," he said walking over to a filing cabinet in the corner.

Castle leaned over to Beckett while Montgomery was turned the other way and whispered to her, "Protected and safe? I had this conversation with mother years ago."

Kate glared at him and pushed him away.

"Breaking rule number one already are we Detective Beckett?" he continued to whisper.

Kate didn't respond. They had barely even been at the precinct together for 5 minutes. Was he trying to get them into trouble? She simply turned her head back to Montgomery, who had retrieved the paperwork from the filing cabinet and was heading back over to his desk.

"Even with rules, sometimes unexpected things happen," Montgomery said.

This time it was Castle who was trying to hold back his laughter.

"So, the NYPD asks that you read through this paper work and sign it. Basically saying that this is your decision, if something should happen, if you get hurt, you cannot sue us or the city, if you get shot, you cannot sue the city and if you get killed…"

"My lifeless remains cannot sue the city?" Castle interrupted

"Your heirs, cannot sue the city."

"Right."

"I don't usually deal with this stuff myself, so Mr Thornton will be coming up shortly to discuss this further with you and answer any questions you may have, but I thought you might like to get a head start on the reading."

Castle nodded, and picked up the paper work the captain had placed in front of him.

"Detective Beckett," Montgomery started again. "Are you sure you are okay with this? I know you had your doubts and I'm glad you are now allowing this to happen but if you are unsure at all, let me know, because you not wanting this allows more room for error, bad judgement, and injury."

"No Captain. It's fine. I'm ready for _this,"_ she said pointing towards Castle with raised eyebrows.

Captain Montgomery laughed, glad to see that the detective was now comfortable with the arrangement and was comfortable with letting the pair work together.

"Sir, is there anything else you need me for?"

"No, that's everything. Castle if you'll follow me, I'll take you to another room where you can read those without being interrupted and I'll send Mr Thornton in as soon as he arrives."

When Beckett saw Montgomery go back into his office, she made her way to the room where Castle was reading. She poked her head in the door. "So, you're sure about this?" she asked.

Castle lifted up his head. "Which _this _are you talking about?" he said with a wink.

"Castle!"

"Yes, I'm sure. You've explained the dangers of the job, I know I could get hurt, but I am going to be on my best behaviour, and I trust that you will do what you can to keep me safe."

He knew she was still a little worried about him getting hurt on the job, and he was determined to have her relaxing a little by the end of the first day. If that meant reassuring her at every possible moment, that's what he would do.

"It's gonna be great, you'll see," he said smiling.

Beckett nodded. "So, do you need any help with all of that paperwork? No new case for me at the moment, so I can help you out if you need it," she said now entering the room.

"Well, there's probably not a lot you can do. It's just a whole heap of reading and signing. Are you any good at forging signatures?"

Kate took a seat and started reading one of the documents. She knew she couldn't really help with the signing, and he needed to read it all himself, but she felt better knowing exactly what he was signing.

Castle was really not liking the 'no physical touch' rule at that moment. The one thing he really wanted to do was reach out to Beckett and just hold her hand, let her know that there was nothing to be worried about.

They sat silently both reading through documents for a while until Mr Thornton entered the room.

"Well, I guess I should be getting back to work, so you guys can discuss all this," she said standing.

"Actually Beckett, you can stay if you want. It wouldn't hurt to have someone here to explain things that I don't understand," he smiled, and she sat back down quietly while Mr Thornton started explaining everything.

She knew Castle didn't need her there, but he wanted her there to help her feel more at ease.

* * *

**Mr Thornton... totally made up character. I looked back at the ep 1x02 for the wording, and it's not Captain Montgomery who takes him through the stuff, but some other random guy, so I figured, I'd make up my own random guy but I also wanted Montgomery to be there which is why I wrote it the way I did :)**


	34. Chapter 34

Just as Castle was finishing signing all the documents Beckett received a phone call informing her of a body drop and she was needed at a scene.

"Right Castle, we've got a body. Let's go."

They passed Ryan and Esposito on their way out and Beckett gave them the address and said they'd see them there.

Castle climbed into the passenger side of the crown vic unable to remove the smile from his face. He was getting into a cop car, to go to a crime scene and he was there to help. He'd been in a cop car before, but he had been handcuffed and in the back. The idea of being handcuffed with Beckett in the backseat of her car sounded great, but he couldn't let thoughts like that invade his mind.

"So, no getting in the way when we get to the scene."

"Beckett, I have been to a few crime scenes now," he returned.

"I know, but this is different. There's more to do now than examine the body, we need to examine the area. Just do as I tell you."

"Like I said before, I will be on my best behaviour and will do as you say," he said giving Beckett a smile which could only be described as mischievous and Beckett was really hoping that he really was going to behave.

The drive was short to the crime scene and was fairly silent.

"This way Castle," Beckett said making her way over to Perlmutter who was examining the body.

"Where's Lanie?" Castle asked.

"Lanie isn't the only medical examiner in the city Castle, she must be tied up with another case. Perlmutter, what have we got?" she aked reaching him.

Castle stood back listening intently to the details as the medical examiner explained them when he spotted a piece of paper poking out from one of the victims pockets. He knelt down to get a closer look, not going to touch anything but ready to point it out.

"Woah, woah, woah. Don't touch that," Perlmutter said.

"Castle, what are you doing?"

"I was just going to point this out," he said pointing to the paper. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to touch anything."

"Is this your new partner Detective?" Perlmutter asked turning back to Beckett.

"Not exactly, he's doing research. This is Richard Castle."

"The writer?"

"That would be me," Castle said holding out his hand.

"Do I look like I'm in a position where I can just shake peoples hands Mr Castle?" he said bluntly.

"Um…" he looked over to Beckett who was shaking her head from side to side. "No."

"Right, well I am still examining the body. We got ID from his wallet, which was found beside him, so I hadn't gotten around to checking the pockets. I do know how to do my job."

"Sorry," was all Castle could say and he stood up again taking a step back.

Castle was not sure that he liked this guy. He knew what he was doing and was very detailed in explaining things to Beckett, but he was a little rude.

They were at the crime scene for a while getting all the information from the medical examiner and talking to people in the area, then they took what they had back to the precinct.

They spent the afternoon putting pictures up on the whiteboard and writing down what information they had.

Castle stayed out of the way when Beckett spoke to the family, but he watched her from a distance. He didn't know how she did it, she stayed calm, she was comforting and she knew exactly how to make the situation easier for them. He couldn't help but be amazed by her.

After talking to the family they had set up a time line of the victims last hours. Then they all sat in front of the board trying to piece it all together. It was there that they spent a large amount of their afternoon, while waiting for Perlmutter to finish the autopsy and for the forensic team to get back with results from fingerprinting the scene.

Castle glanced at his watch at around 6:30pm and could not believe how fast time had gone since they had first been told about the body. He was back in his seat at Beckett's desk while she was looking through the victims bank details on her computer.

"Beckett?" he said, pulling her attention away from the screen. "You haven't eaten all day, we should go get some dinner."

"I'm fine Castle," she said. "I just need to continue going through this okay?" She turned back to her screen.

"Beckett? You need to eat, those M&M's you've eaten don't count as food, and I'm getting hungry myself. I'll go get something and bring it back."

"Really Castle, I'm fine. If you're hungry, then sure go find some food for yourself, but you don't need to worry about feeding me."

"Kate," she snapped her head up at him. "Sorry. Beckett, I know you have a case but…"

"Castle, go get food. If it makes you happy, I'll eat," she said and sighed.

"I'll be back soon. Would you like anything in particular?" Castle said as he got up off his seat.

"Castle!"

"Okay, I'll figure it out."

He would prefer it if Kate were going with him. She had barely taken a break all day. Is this how she was all the time at work? He knew she was dedicated to her job but surely the way she was working couldn't be healthy for anyone. He knew that she obviously didn't stay late every night, she'd had dinner with him a few times, but he hoped that every other night she hadn't been at the precinct working. He didn't want to start telling her what to do or how to live her life, but he was going to try and help her relax and have some more fun.

Beckett watched as Castle pushed the button to the elevator and got on. She could see his shoulders were slightly slumped over, and she realised she had upset him. He was just trying to look after her, she didn't need looking after, but maybe she spoke a little rudely to him. She quickly jumped out of her seat and rushed down the stairs to catch him as he exited the elevator.

She realised as she reached the bottom of the stairs that she had just missed his exit, so she quickly made her way out the door and looked either way to find him. He hadn't made it far so she called out to him.

When he turned to her and saw her coming he stopped and waited for her to reach him.

"I'm sorry. I was rude. I just hate it when I've got nothing on a case, and I don't stop until I get something. I tend to just forget to eat, so thank you for caring,"

"So you're coming along and joining me for dinner? I was just going to that place down the road. So we wont be long and it'll be nice to have some time to ourselves," he said wiggling his eyebrows.

"No," she said. "Sorry. I'd like to finish going through the details I've got to try and find something, but some food would be nice to help get me through the evening."

"Not a problem, I'll be back shortly with your dinner."

"And Castle," she said running her hands down his arms stopping when she reached his hands, and held them in hers. "You don't need to feed the entire precinct this time. Just you and me okay."

"Got it. And Beckett?"

"Yeah"

"You're breaking your number one rule again."

"We're outside the precinct," she winked.

Since it wasn't really breaking any rule, Rick leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"I'll be right back," he said.

Castle left and Beckett went back into the precinct and up to her desk.

Castle didn't take long at all and returned with dinner within about 15 minutes. He took two burgers out of the bag and placed one in front of Beckett on her desk.

They finished dinner and Castle went to the vending machine to get them both a drink and called Alexis to let her know that he would be getting home late.

Kate had overheard him on the phone and felt a little selfish for not realising and sending him home. As much as she had really enjoyed him being there all day, she knew his daughter probably needed him more at home.

"Castle, you don't have to stay. You can go home if you need to. Alexis is probably wondering where you are."

"No, I just called her, she knows I'm here with you and she's fine. Mother is home with her."

"It's late. This is my job, not yours. It's ok if you leave," she said smiling. She didn't want him to think she was kicking him out, she just wanted to make sure he didn't feel like he had to be there.

"Thanks Beckett, but I think I'll be fine, right where I am, with you."

_Stupid rules!_ Kate thought to herself in her head. Castle was being really sweet and she was really struggling to not reach out and just give his hand a reassuring squeeze to let him know that she was thankful for him.

By 10:30pm the pair had some leads to follow.

"C'mon Castle, I'll take you home. We can't follow these up until tomorrow anyway."

They walked over to the elevator and Beckett yawned.

"Wanna stay? The spare room is yours if you want it again tonight."

"Thanks Castle, but I think I'll go home tonight."

Staying at the loft would have been great, she did like it there, but she wanted to get into the precinct early in the morning and she didn't want to have to rush around. Also, after what had almost happened when she had gone round before going to the precinct, she wasn't sure she could trust herself or Castle to just sleep.


	35. Chapter 35

They'd spent the whole day following leads and now had more information on the whiteboard but, were still yet to find any real obvious suspects.

"So, we know that our vic went to the bar after work, but where did he go after that?" Beckett said as she wrote details on the white board.

She then sat on her desk beside Castle who was looking up at the board. They both sat there staring at it, trying to figure it all out.

"How far away is the bar from where the body was found?" Castle asked.

"Across the other side of town."

"So how did he get there? Was there anything in his bank details? Cab payment or anything?"

"No, nothing"

"And the bar owner doesn't remember seeing him at all. Surely someone saw him."

"Well the owner did say he was a regular there, came in with a different girl on his arm each time."

"What kind of guy does that?" Castle said incredulously.

"Seriously? Mr Page Six?" Beckett said raising her eyebrows at him.

"Hey! That's not fair. You know I'm not that person. I may have been, but I'm not anymore," he said with a wink. "And besides, most of the time, it was all a set up for publicity."

Beckett laughed. "Relax Castle. I was just teasing. So, back to the case, maybe…"

"We should go back to the bar and ask more questions," Castle interrupted.

"Maybe some of the other customers will remember seeing him,"

"Or know if he was with someone that night and who they were."

"So Mr Castle, do you have any plans tonight?"

"Why, no I don't, my dear detective."

"Would you like to join me for a drink?"

"I thought you would never ask," he smiled.

"Well," she said getting off the table and standing in front of Castle. "We should get going then. I'll have to go home and change quickly."

"So, we're going undercover?"

"Well, we'll get more information if we go in looking like a couple going in for drinks, rather than cops."

"Awesome!" Castle said excitedly.

"You know the best part about it?" Beckett said moving in closer.

"Wh… what's that?" starting to feel a little nervous about Beckett getting so close in the precinct.

"We can forget about rule number one," she said in a sultry voice.

"Really? We can?"

She stepped back a little and started collecting her things to go. "Well to a certain extent. We still have a job to do."

* * *

"Rick! Stop looking at me like that will you," Beckett said as they entered the bar.

"Like what?"

"Like you want to take me in the bathroom and have your way with me."

"I can't help it. Have you seen yourself tonight?"

She had dressed herself in a long sleeved short black dress which fitted her body perfectly and showed off her curves and her long legs that seemed to go on forever. Then there was the back, or lack of back. The dress scooped very low at the back, showing off her flawless silky skin, and it made Castle just want to run not just his fingers but also his lips down her back. The things he could do to her filled his mind, but he knew he had to focus.

Kate slipped her hand away from Rick's elbow, turned to face him and placed a hand on his chest to stop him where he was. "We are here to work, just remember that, okay."

She had to take in a deep breath when she felt his toned chest under her hand and she could feel his heart was beating faster than normal.

"I know, I know. But who said we can't have a little bit of fun while we're here?" he grinned at her.

Beckett raised her eyebrows. "We do our job, and then we'll see about the fun. Let's go talk to the manager."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the bar. He placed his hand on the small of her back as she causing her to shiver. She should have put more thought into the dress. She wanted to be a tease to him, but didn't think how it was going to affect her.

They spoke to the manager for a minute, and ordered themselves drinks. Because they were on the job they stuck to drinking soft drink or water. The manager pointed out some people that often hung out with the victim and Beckett planned to go and talk to each of them to find out more about them and the victim.

"So, how do we do this?" Castle whispered in Beckett's ear and she turned with her eyes wide to him.

"Do this?"

"I mean, how do we go ask them about the victim without them knowing we're cops? What did you think I meant?" he grinned.

"First, I am the cop and that is the last time that is mentioned tonight. And I knew exactly what you meant, I was just making sure your head was in the right place. So we just go over and ask about the victim. We tell them we're a friend and heard that they often spent time together at the bar and we thought they might know where he is."

"Got it!"

They went over and started talking to one of the victims friends. It took hardly any time at all before finding out that they're victim was a drug dealer and this bar was one of his favourites where he had a number of buyers.

They moved on and spoke to another few people getting as much information as possible. The first few people had not seen their victim the night of his murder so were not able to give them much information but they eventually found Steve, who had seen their victim and knew the woman that he was with that night.

They were quickly able to gain Steve's trust and invited him to join them at a table. Castle offered to get them all drinks while Beckett started finding out more about the woman. He returned to the table with drinks for the three of them and sat in the booth next to Kate.

As soon as he was sitting he felt Kate scoot in a little closer and she placed her hand on his thigh. Rick took that as permission to get a little more cozy so he lifted his arm over her shoulder and she leaned into his side. He wasn't sure how she was managing to focus on getting answers from Steve, because he was beginning to struggle to concentrate as her fingers ran up and down his leg lightly.

They found out as much as they could from Steve who then pointed out the woman, Toni, they needed to speak to. She made her way down stairs to the basement level of the bar where there was a dance floor.

"Shall we go dance?" Rick said softly in Kate's ear as he allowed his hand to stroke the back of her neck.

They excused themselves from their conversation with Steve and Castle led them down the stairs.

Castle started making his way straight over to Toni but he was stopped by a pull on his arm.

"Beckett? What are you doing?" he asked as she pulled him closer and started moving her body up against his to the music.

"Dancing," she said softly in his ear and she draped her arms around his neck.

Rick was quick to respond and his arms circled her body and started running up and down her back igniting fireworks in both their bodies.

"I don't know that I will be able to control myself if you keep this up," Rick said. "Shouldn't we just go talk to the people we need to talk to, then we can get out of here."

"Shhh… just dance with me," she said as she nuzzled into his neck.

"What about…" he started.

"I'm watching her." Beckett knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Oh"

They silently danced for a while, Beckett carefully watching the woman. After a while Beckett lifted her head and whispered to Rick. "I think she's going to make a deal herself, when she does, I'm going after her."

"That's why you've been watching her? How did you know?"

"This is why I'm the detective," she said, and kissed Rick on the cheek.

It was only a few seconds later than Beckett let go of Rick and started making her way to where Toni was starting to make a deal. However, it seemed that Toni saw her coming and got spooked. Beckett was quick to realise she was making a run for it, and took off after her.

Castle, of course, had to follow, but on his way up the stairs tripped up and rolled his ankle.

Beckett looked back at him when she heard him yelp, but he waved her to go after Toni.

A few minutes later, Beckett returned without Toni.

"What happened?" Castle asked, still sitting where he'd tripped on the stairs.

"Get away car"

"Really, I thought they only had them for bank robberies."

She shrugged. "Nope but at least we know who she is, so we'll worry about her tomorrow. Are you hurt?"

"I think I rolled my ankle, but I'll be okay."

Kate requested the help of a gentleman walking past and they helped get Castle off the floor, and up the stairs sitting him down at a table.

Kate sat opposite and lifted his injured foot placing it in her lap to take a look. She lifted the leg of Castle's pants and a shiver ran down his body again.

"Sorry," Kate said.

"It's ok."

"Let's get out of here and get you home then. It doesn't look too bad, but we should get you home and rested."

Kate gently put his foot back down on the floor and came around to stand in front of him. Rick was looking down at his feet and she could see he was definitely trying to hide some of the pain he was feeling.

"Hey," she said quietly and she placed her hands either side of his face to make him look up at her. She leant over and locked her lips with his briefly. "Thank you Castle, for your help tonight. You did great," she said before kissing him once more.

Before she could do anything about it, she felt Castles hands on the back of her legs and she was pulled forward and found herself straddling his lap. He deepened the kiss, his tongue begging for entrance into her mouth, which she immediately allowed. They stayed there for a few minutes, enjoying the taste of each other and allowing Castle to forget the pain in his ankle.

Eventually, Kate pulled back.

"C'mon, we really should be getting you home to ice that ankle."


	36. Chapter 36

Kate walked around to Castle's side of the car and opened his door. She looked

down at him trying to figure out the best way to get him out without hurting his injured ankle.

"Shouldn't this be the other way around? You're supposed to be opening doors for me, and helping me out of the car."

Rick laughed. 'Yeah, sorry."

"It's okay," she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to his cheek. "Ready to go? I don't want you to hurt yourself any more so feel free to lean on me as much as you need to."

"I'm a big man Beckett, are you sure? I don't want to hurt you." He moved his legs so they were hanging outside the car.

"I'm strong. I can handle it," she winked, as she took the ice pack given to him by the bar manager and she took his arm and placed it around her neck to help him stand.

They managed to get out of the car without too much trouble and had Rick standing leaning against the side of the vehicle.

"Can you put any weight on your foot at all Rick?" Kate asked.

He tried and he winced but it wasn't as painful as he had expected. "Maybe a little. I mean, it hurts but it's not unbearable. I think I've just slightly rolled it, but I should be good in a few days."

"Right, well let's just get you up to your loft and we'll get some more ice on it and wrap it up."

Slowly, they made their way to the elevator. The doorman saw them coming and did what he could to help them.

When they finally made it up to the loft door, Rick opened it and they entered stopping just inside the door before continuing their travel.

"Right, so where to? Did you want to sit on the lounge or head straight to the bedroom?" Beckett asked nonchalantly.

"Beckett," Castle whispered in her ear. "As much as I would love to take you to the bedroom right away, I think we should fix up my ankle first."

"Castle!" she slapped him playfully in the chest. "You know that's not what I meant. I just didn't know if it would be easier for you if you were already in your room for the night."

"The lounge is fine," he said with a smile. If they went to the bedroom together, the ankle would probably get ignored, and he didn't want to be stuck at home for days unable to walk.

They started making their way over to the lounge when they heard a door opening upstairs.

"Richard darling, is that you?" Martha called, making her way downstairs.

Rick hadn't even thought about his mother being home. He had no idea if Kate was ready to meet his mother or if he was even ready for Kate to meet his mother. She did tend to be rather flamboyant. He looked over to Kate to try and read her expression and was surprised to see her smiling. Hearing his mother coming down the stairs hadn't spooked her at all.

"Yeah, down here," he called up.

Martha made it to the bottom of the stairs before realising Richard was injured.

"What happened?" she asked, walking to his unoccupied side to help him make his way to the lounge.

"Just a little accident tonight, it's nothing really," he said as they sat finally got him sitting down. Kate bent down to lift his leg up and placed it along the length of the lounge so it was elevated.

"And this must be the brilliant detective I've been hearing so much about," Martha said referring to Kate.

"Yes, mother, this is Kate, Kate, my mother, Martha Rodgers," he gestured to the both of them.

Kate held out her hand to Martha, "It's good to meet you, Mrs…"

"Martha, you can call me Martha," she responded, ignoring Kate's hand and enveloping her in a tight hug. "So, good to finally meet you too. Richard hasn't stopped talking about you."

When Martha let go Kate looked down to Rick who was now lying down on the lounge watching them with a smile.

"So, tell me," Martha started, "What have you done, and how did it happen?"

"I'd love to tell you the story mother, but first, do you mind getting the icepack, some Tylenol, some water and maybe a bandage, just incase I need it."

As Martha went to get the things Rick wanted to make sure Kate was okay.

"Kate," he said and she turned to look at him, "come sit with me." He patted the small space next to his hip.

Kate walked over and sat next to him facing placing a folded leg on the lounge next to his body. .

"Are you okay with this?" he asked placing his hand on her thigh and stroking her leg making small circles with his fingers. "My mother being here? If you're uncomfortable, you don't have to stay. She's pretty good with this stuff, she'll know what to do about my ankle."

Beckett responded to his touch by placing her hand on his chest. "It's fine Rick. I'm fine. Your mother is fine. Now we just need to get your ankle fixed up."

"You're amazing, you know that?" he said looking up at her.

"You're not too bad yourself," she responded.

The look that he was giving her was one that Kate had not seen before. There was such depth in his gaze. It wasn't just desire, there was more, but she couldn't quite decide what it was. She knew he cared, but she was just beginning to realise how much.

When he whispered for her to come closer, she didn't hesitate. Leaning over him he reached up to her neck, and pulled her lips to his. It was brief but, perfect for the moment. Kate sat up leaving her hand on his chest and he lifted one of his own to join it, wrapping his fingers over hers.

Their moment was broken when Martha reappeared, her hands full with supplies. She was smiling, obviously having seen the moment between her son and the detective.

Martha placed the Tylenol and the water on the table and then asked what to do with the icepack. Kate took the ice pack and moved back a little to place it on Ricks ankle, apologizing when she saw him grimace. She tried to sooth the pain by running her hand along his leg, and she felt him relax almost immediately.

Martha had taken a seat in one of the single armchairs opposite them. "So, what happened to you?"

"Well…" Castle started. He continued to tell his mother everything that had happened, being careful not to give her too much information about the case that they were working on. When he did start saying too much he knew to stop when Beckett gave him a certain 'time to be quiet' look.

"So, we were chasing this woman when I tripped up the stairs and twisted my ankle. And that's what happened."

When he looked up at Kate she was shaking her head, but smiling.

"He exaggerates a little dear, don't worry, I'm used to it. I know not to take absolutely everything he says seriously." Martha said.

Kate laughed. "Yeah. So, he really shouldn't have been running up the stairs, that was my job, but I guess I didn't explain that to him," she said rolling her eyes and then turned to look at Rick. "Now remember, you can not sue the city for this," she winked and he laughed. "Now, lets get that ankle wrapped."

She removed the icepack and had a look at his ankle. It wasn't too badly swollen, and it had barely bruised. He would probably be back on his feet in a couple of days.

"This may hurt, but it needs to be done. I probably should have taken you to see a doctor so, make sure you see one in the morning."

"I'll have one come around tonight," Castle said.

"But, it's late."

"I know, but I have a private doctor I can call whenever I need him."

She gently took the bandage and starting wrapping it around his ankle, careful not to move it around too much. Once she had wrapped it she smoothed it with her hand and then moved back to sit next to his hip.

"Now, you're ankle is all sorted, do you need me to help you with anything else?" she said running her fingers up his chest when she heard someone clear their throat behind them. Martha had been so quiet while she tended to Rick's ankle that Kate had completely forgotten she was there.

Kate started blushing so Rick grabbed her hand to help put her at ease. "You've done so much for me already. Thank you."

"Well then, I should probably be going," Kate said looking from Rick to Martha.

"Oh Kate dear, don't feel like you have to leave because I'm here," Martha said.

"It's okay, I should get home and get some sleep, and let Rick here get some rest too." She turned again to him, "Don't forget to call your doctor."

She checked to make sure he was going to be okay and he assured her his mother would be able to help him if he needed it. He offered the spare room again but Beckett declined. She wanted to make sure he rested. Not only that, if she stayed, he would probably try to convince her he was okay to go into the precinct the next morning. It would be easier to say no to him over the phone, he couldn't work his puppy dog eyes to his advantage that way.

Not wanting him to get up unnecessarily she said goodbye to Rick on the lounge and Martha walked her to the door.

"Again, it was lovely meeting you Kate," Martha said. "And if you don't mind me saying, I think you're good for him."

"Um… thank you," Kate said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"I know he can be difficult man at times and maybe I'm bias, but he's worth the effort."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to see that."

"He cares about you."

"I care about him too."

"Oh yes, I can see that too. Kate, I hope to see you again soon." Martha reached out and surprised Kate with another hug.

"Yeah, me too." Kate said as Martha opened the door for her.

Martha went back to her son who was still sitting on the lounge, trying to look as though he hadn't overheard the conversation at the door.

"I like this one," she said smiling.

* * *

**To those of you who were hoping for more action... Sorry, Martha was home! haha But now Beckett has met his mother... what does this mean for her? I guess we'll have to wait and see. **


	37. Chapter 37

**Again, I feel like I need to thank you for your reviews and follows and favourites. I just want you to know that even if I don't respond to each one individually, I appreciate them all. **

**And a disclaimer, coz I feel like I should every now and then. I'm a random Aussie chick who should write less and sleep more... I don't own Castle or the characters. **

* * *

The following morning Beckett went into the precinct early, she wanted to get a head start on finding out more about Toni. She had requested the help of one of the guys from narcotics to help locate possible dealers in the area and others who may know who Toni was.

When Ryan and Esposito came in, they asked where Castle was and Beckett had to explain how the evening went. She didn't do it with as much flair as Castle would have. Giving them the basic details, they couldn't do anything but laugh. He'd been at the precinct for a couple of days and he was already injured, it was a little funny.

By 8am she decided, she had let Castle sleep in long enough and she sent him a text to find out how he was doing.

His response came back faster than she had expected.

_Much better and I'm walking almost normally already. Doc says I'll be fine. I was going to tell you when I came in this morning. _

There was no way she was going to let him come in. She didn't care what the doctor said, she wanted him to rest.

_Rick, take the day off and rest. _

_But I don't want to rest. _

Kate could almost hear his whining tone when she read the message and laughed picturing his puppy dog eyes while he pouted out his bottom lip. She had definitely made the right decision in going home last night.

_Rest. The more rest you get, the faster you'll heal and the faster you'll be back. _

_Oh man! How can I argue with that? _

_You can't._

_I'll take the day off then. Will I get to see you at all today?_

_I don't know. It's really busy here. _

She was teasing, she knew it was mean, but it was also fun.

_Please, you can't leave me alone all day. _

_You know, I do have a case to solve. I could be stuck at the precinct ALL day. _

_Oh, come on Kate, come see me. It's your fault I'm stuck at home. _

Was he really blaming her for hurting himself. A second ago, she had been teasing, now she was annoyed. She picked up her phone and dialed his number.

"Beckett, are you calling to tell me you're on your way to visit me?"

"No. Do you really blame me for your injury?" she asked straight away.

"Oh, Kate. No, I knew you were just teasing me, so I was playing along. I would never blame you for my injury. It's not the first time I've fallen over running up stairs."

Kate let out a short laugh. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"So, how did you know I was teasing?"

"Kate, I know you."

"Hmm…" she responded as she thought about it.

He really did know her, and she was surprised how well he had gotten to know her in such a short space of time. Usually that would frighten her, but with Rick, it was different. She loved that he knew her so well.

"So, will I see you today?" Castle asked, snapping Kate out of her thoughts.

"I hope so," she said. "I'll let you know when I'm leaving the precinct tonight and I'll stop by. Do you need me to bring you anything? Ice cream?"

"Oh detective Beckett, how did you…?"

"Maybe I know you too."

"Well, ice cream would be great, I'll probably have finished the tub I've got in the freezer by the end of the day."

They finished their conversation and Beckett got back to the search on her computer.

It wasn't long before she started thinking about Castle again and how great things were going. She'd even met his mother, and she was okay with that. She was comfortable.

She met his mother. She got stuck on that thought for a moment. Martha was great, and she really seemed to like her. The short conversation they had at the door had really surprised her, and it had somehow warmed her heart.

Thinking about meeting Rick's mother did start making her feel a little sad knowing that he would never be able meet her own mum but she couldn't let herself feel down about it, she had a job to do. She looked back at her computer and put aside all thoughts of Rick and parents.

* * *

With the help of the narcotics detective, Beckett was able to find Toni's where abouts and brought her into the precinct for questioning. Unfortunately, she had an alibi so they were unable to arrest her for the murder. She did have more information however, that was of use to Beckett, so she had gone out to pay a visit to another bar owner and was now on her way back to the precinct when she found herself driving through Castle's part of town.

She decided she'd stop in and see how he was doing. She made a quick stop for ice cream and made her way to his loft.

She knocked on the door and was surprised when Rick answered it himself as quickly as he had. She was actually surprised he answered it at all and had expected Martha would be answering.

"Beckett? Closed the case already? Without me?"

"No, I'm still working, but I was driving through and wanted to see how you were doing."

"Much better now that I've seen you," he said, receiving an eye roll from Kate.

"And, I brought you some ice cream," she said holding out her hand with the bag of ice cream.

"You are the best!" he said, eyes wide and grinning.

Kate had never seen anyone so excited about ice cream before it made her laugh.

"So, can you stay?"

"Only for a few minutes, I have leads to follow."

As she entered, she spotted Martha standing in the kitchen getting herself a glass of water but before she could say hi herself, Martha spoke.

"Good afternoon Kate, stopping by to check on Richard are you?"

"Yeah, I was in the neighbourhood. Thought I'd see how the invalid is doing."

"Hey!" Castle said trying to sound upset about being called an invalid.

"Well don't mind me, I'm just heading up to my room for a little siesta, so I'll be out of your way."

"Martha, you don't have to leave." She didn't want Martha to think that she wasn't wanted.

"Kate, this is always siesta time for her. It's okay," Castle said reassuringly.

"Right."

"Well, enjoy your nap, Martha."

"I will dear, you enjoy your visit," she said making her way up the stairs.

Kate watched as Castle made his way over to the lounge. He was right, he really was doing a lot better. And although there was definitely a slight limp in his step, he didn't seem to be in any pain and was moving fairly fast.

"So Rick, what did the doctor say about the ankle?" she asked as she sat down beside him.

"It's not too bad. He says I have slightly twisted it, but it didn't look too serious so he said to make sure I put ice on it a couple of times today, and keep it strapped and he says I'll be back to normal in no time. So, tell me about the case? What's happened today? It's so annoying that I can't be there helping."

Kate started to tell Castle all about the case, Toni and the information she had gathered since the morning.

Castle listened closely and tried to piece all the bits of information together in his head.

"So, the bar he was at that night, something went down there?"

"Yeah, and it had something to do with the other bar owner that I visited today. I'm just not sure exactly what it was yet."

"That paper the victim had in his pocket. It was a partial address right?"

"Yeah," Kate said, unsure what Castle was thinking.

"Were you able to figure out what that was?"

"No, too much of the paper had been torn away, we're not really sure why the ripped address was still in his pocket."

"Right. And the bar owner, the one from last night, he said he hadn't seen our guy at all the night of the murder."

Kate nodded beginning to see what Rick was thinking.

"You know what I think," he said.

"We should question the bar owner again, maybe bring him into the precinct this time."

"Exactly. Interrogate his ass!"

That made Kate laugh. "And I'll run his address, maybe that's where our victim went," she said.

"Exactly. I think the bar owner caught onto his drug dealings, from the other bar owner."

"And then spoke to our guy"

"Arranged a private meeting at his place."

"To maybe collect some _goods_"

"But then what?"

They sat silently for a minute.

"He confronted him about selling drugs in his bar, and wanted him out" Castle continued.

"The guy refused."

"And BAM" he said loudly, making Kate jump, "his life was cut short."

"You could be onto something," Kate said. "I guess now we just need to find the evidence and figure out why and how the body ended up where it did. I guess I better get going then."

Rick got up from his seat again, even when Kate protested and walked her to the door.

She walked through the door way and Castle watched her make her way down the hall, but half way down she stopped and turned to look back at him.

"Castle, will you come with me somewhere tonight?" she asked thoughtfully, but with a little bit of tentativeness.

"Of course," he smiled hoping to get one of her beautiful smiles in response.

He did. Kate smiled back. "I'll come by tonight to pick you up," she said and then she turned back to make her way to the elevator.


	38. Chapter 38

**I think this may be one of my favourite chapters.. although I can't say I remember all of them. But it's a meaningful chapter, and I like that about it. I hope I did it justice. **

**Since I took some wording from the show I will remind you (although you all know already) that I am not an awesome creator/writer/anything-to-do-with-the-show person and own nothing but my own story. **

* * *

Kate couldn't wait to get back to Castle that evening, so she didn't even wait around to do the paperwork after arresting the bar owner. She knew it would still be there in the morning. She could do it then.

She didn't even go home to change, she just went straight to the loft and messaged Rick as she left to precinct to tell him she was on her way.

"Are you ready to go?" she said as soon as Rick answered the door, not giving him a chance to say or do anything.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I want you to meet someone."

Kate grabbed hold of Rick's hand and pulled him forwards a little too quickly before remembering about his injured ankle. She apologized and then continued to walk him slowly down the hall. He was doing well, his ankle didn't seem to be causing too much of a problem, but there was still a slight limp and he was definitely slower than usual.

The ride down on the elevator was quiet, Kate was lost in her thoughts. She couldn't believe that she was actually excited about what she was doing, it wasn't what she had expected at all. Over the years she had gone out with a few guys but, she had never been able to open up to them as much as she felt she could with Rick. She had never taken anyone to where she was taking Rick, never shared the stories she was going to share. It was all a very new experience. But it wasn't so much what she was doing that excited her, it was what it meant not only for her, but for Rick and for the two of them together.

As the elevator doors opened, she quickly placed a kiss on Rick's cheek before leading him out to her car.

The trip over was silent other than Rick asking every 2 minutes where they were going. Kate never told him, so then he started guessing, which was probably more annoying, but she found it endearing. She could sense that as every minute passed, he was becoming more excited as well.

When they arrived at the cemetery, Castle looked over at Kate looking slightly puzzled. It wasn't really what he was expecting. Who do you meet in a cemetery?

"This is where we're going?" he asked a little unsure.

"Yeah," she said a little softly and less excitement. The reality of what she was doing suddenly hit her. This was big, and now she wasn't sure she could handle it.

Rick suddenly realised what was happening, and now he could sense the uncertainty making it's way into Kate's mind. He grabbed her hand in his, and interlaced his fingers with hers. "Lead the way, I'm right here with you."

She led them past gravestone after gravestone silently until she reached one and stopped. She never let go of his hand, and never once looked up at him. She just stood there looking at the stone for a moment.

Castle observed the stone himself reading the inscribed words. It read, 'Joanna Beckett, Vincit Omnia Veritis, February 4th 1951 – January 9th 1999'. He knew it meant 'truth conquers all' and just by reading the inscription, he felt like he had gotten to know not only a little about Kate's mother but about Kate as well and her drive to find the truth in her work.

He gave Kate all the time she needed, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts, but still he didn't let go of her hand. He wanted Kate to know he wasn't going anywhere.

After a moment, she looked up.

"Mum, I'd like you to meet Richard Castle, Rick, this is my mother," she smiled awkwardly, not really sure what she was doing.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Beckett," Rick said and squeezed Kate's hand.

Kate stepped a little closer and rested her head on Rick's shoulder, and again they stood there in silence.

She allowed a few tears to fall down her cheeks before she spoke again. "Sit with me?"

There was no need for Rick to respond with words. She knew he was going to sit with her. And he knew that she didn't expect him to respond. It was like they both knew what the other was thinking without having to say a single word.

They sat down side by side in front of the stone, Castle wrapped his arm over her shoulders and she rested her body against him.

She started speaking, soft and slow. "We were supposed to go to dinner together, my mum, my dad and I and she was going to meet us at the restaurant, but she never showed. Two hours later we went home, and there was a detective waiting for us," she paused as she recalled the details. "a detective Raglan. They found her body, she had been stabbed. It wasn't a robbery, she still had her money and purse and jewellery. And it wasn't a sexual assault either." She took a deep breath, and Rick gently stroked her arm, keeping her calm. "They attributed it to gang violence. A random wayward event. They couldn't think outside the box, and they just tried to package it up nicely. The killer was never caught."

"Kate…" Rick whispered, but she lifted her hand and placed it on his lips before he could say anything further.

"My dad. My dad took her death hard. He's sober now, five years." She lifted the sleeve of her jacket and revealed a watch underneath. "So this is for the life that I saved, and this," she pulled out the necklace with the ring she wore around her neck, "is for the life that I lost."

Rick kissed her forehead and waited for her to continue.

"And that's why I became a detective. It's not right that there are people out there, getting away with murder, not even considering the families that are being left behind or the damage they do for years after that moment when they take a persons life." She paused again. "And one day Rick, I'm going to find the person who killed my mother."

"I'd like to help you do that," he responded softly.

"I think I'd like that," she said, and again they sat silently, reflecting on everything that was said.

Kate had worked on her mothers' case when she first became a detective and had gotten so wrapped up in it that it became her life. With Castle by her side though, she knew he would help her in ways that no one else could, he could help save her from getting lost in the case again.

After hearing Kate's story, Rick was speechless. She had been through so much at such a young age, and now look at her. He knew she was strong, but he didn't realise just how strong and remarkable she really was until that moment.

He wasn't sure whether he should be happy or sad. The story was sad, her mother was not only murdered, but they never had answers. They never knew why, or who did it. But here she was, strong and beautiful, sharing the story with him like she had complete trust in him. It was a moment he was never going to forget.

Another couple of minutes went by before Kate stood. She turned to face Castle and held both her hands out to him to help him stand up and as soon as he was, she wrapped her arms around his back and stepped closer, he responded and pulled her in for a deep hug allowing her to place her head against his chest. When she pulled back she was smiling again. It was that great big beautiful smile that Castle was sure she saved just for him.

She leant forward and kissed him gently.

"Thank you," she whispered into his lips.

"No. Thank you for sharing your mother with me Kate," he said between light kisses.

When she removed her hands from his back and placed them behind his neck to pull him closer for a deeper kiss, Rick reluctantly pulled back a little.

"Should we be doing this here? In front of your mother?" he said with a smile.

She could not believe this man? She wasn't sure how he got away with what he did. If anyone else had tried making that joke after she spilled her heart out, she probably would have yelled, but she couldn't help but smile. He was just too sweet.

"Come on then," she said. "Let's get you back to the loft before your family starts to wonder where you are."

"Yeah, you didn't really give me a chance to tell them I was leaving, you were in such a rush," Rick said as they started making their way back through the cemetery to the car.

When they arrived back at Castles loft, Kate turned to Castle once more, "Thanks again for coming with me Rick. I think my mum would have really liked you."

"Well, I think I would have liked her too."

Kate walked around to the other side of the car helping Rick out again telling him that he had already walked too much on his own with his injured ankle, and he had to let her help him this time.

He turned to face her, putting his feet down on the floor to the side of the car, and she stood in front to help him up.

"Can I stay tonight?" she asked softly taking both his hands in hers and looking down at them, almost embarrassed about asking.

Rick smiled, "You can stay anytime you want." He stood and kissed her temple.

Kate walked him round to the back of her car and pulled out an over night bag, then turned to see Castle with a stunned expression on his face.

"What?" she asked. "I put this in there after I stayed the other night, just incase I ever needed it."

Castle took the bag from her hand and wrapped his arm over her shoulder leaning on her slightly, to allow her to think he was letting her help him, and they slowly made their way back to the loft for the night.


	39. Chapter 39

**Thanks for all the comments on the previous chapter. I'm glad you all liked it. :) **

**Here's the next...  
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When they entered the loft, Castle placed Kate's bag down by the door. He didn't want to get ahead of himself and put it in his room, as much as he had wanted to, but he also didn't want to put it in the spare room and make Kate think that's where he expected her to end up. Putting the bag by the door left the choice up to her.

"So we have an over night guest again do we?"

Martha was making her way from the kitchen to the door where her son, and his… she wasn't exactly sure what to call her… girlfriend, were standing.

"Evening Martha," Kate was first to speak. "I hope it's okay with you that I stay."

"Oh, of course it is, don't be silly. You two kids can do whatever you please."

"Actually," Kate said. "Would you like to watch a movie with us?"

"Are you sure? I wont be getting in the way of _anything?"_ she said looking over at her son and receiving a glare back.

"Of course not," Kate said, giving a calming look to Rick.

"Then I'd love to join you, what were you thinking of watching?"

"You know, I hadn't actually thought ahead that far?" Kate laughed. "I guess we'll have to see what you've got here."

"Is Alexis home?" Castle asked.

And just as he spoke, he saw the young red head bouncing down the stairs. She made her way over to her dad, embraced him and then gave Kate a hug too.

Castle loved that his family was already so comfortable with Kate, and the fact that Kate had just willingly asked for Martha to join them for a movie made him extremely happy. He'd never known anyone to become this comfortable around his family before, especially in such a short time. The fact that he had a teenage daughter often scared women away, and his mother, well she usually scared women away too. Others just weren't interested in his family and were only interested in his money. Kate was definitely not one of those.

"Alexis, we're going to watch a movie, would you like to join us?" Kate asked.

"Love to!" was the immediate response. "What are we watching?"

Castle laughed. "We don't know yet. Why don't you go pick one out?"

Alexis nodded and her and Martha disappeared to go find a movie.

"I hope it's ok that I asked them to join us? I didn't want them to think that I was taking you away from time with them."

"You really are amazing Kate" he smiled as he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer, and her hands automatically went up to rest on his shoulders. "Of course it's okay that they're joining us." He leaned over her and caught her lips with his for a brief moment, then rested his forehead on hers.

Kate's hands slowly ran down his arms until they found his on her hips. Pulling back from him, she then felt him shifting control between them as he lifted her hands and kissed each of them softly. "Now, can I get you anything before we watch the movie?" he asked.

"Actually, I was thinking a hot chocolate would be nice, if it's not too much trouble."

"Nothing's too much trouble for you," he winked.

"Thanks. I'm just going to go use the bathroom. Then we'll join your family to watch whatever it is they've picked out. I hope they have good movie taste."

"Well, if Alexis picks, we're safe, if mother does, you may change your mind about the movie watching," he said.

Kate laughed then picked up her bag and made her way up the stairs to the bathroom upstairs. She had considered asking Rick if she could use his bathroom but she wasn't sure if that was the right move. She didn't know what he had expected when she asked to stay the night. Was he expecting her to stay in the spare room, or did he mind sharing his own? She figured he probably wanted her to stay with him but she also didn't want to seem too eager herself. Timing was important, she didn't want to rush it, but she didn't want to wait too long. It wasn't as if they weren't ready, they had nearly gone that step further already, but she knew when they did, it would be something they couldn't turn back from. Relationships are tricky she had thought to herself as she entered the bathroom.

As Kate had walked up the stairs she hadn't seen the slight disappointment in Ricks eyes as he watched her. Although he hadn't said it to her, he had really been hoping she would be staying with him over night.

A few minutes later, Kate reappeared. The first thing Rick noticed was that she didn't bring her bag back downstairs, she must have left it in the spare room. Kate had obviously decided where she wanted to stay for the night. Then he noticed that she had changed.

"Comfortable now?" he asked.

"Yes. There's just something about baggy t-shirts and yoga pants that make me feel relaxed."

Kate helped Rick finish making hot chocolates. He had made one for Martha and Alexis also and placed them all on a tray. He then insisted that each of them needed 5 marshmallows, any less was not acceptable.

When he went to pick up the tray Kate stopped him, telling him that it would be safer for her to carry it. With him slightly limping his way through the loft, it was better his hands were empty.

When they got to the lounge Martha and Alexis had picked a movie and were placing it in the player. They both sat down on the two individual armchairs knowing that Rick would need to elevate his ankle for a while, which didn't really leave much space for Kate, but he had a solution for that.

Rick lay on the chair on his back taking up all the space then called Kate over to join him.

"You expect me to sit on you or something Rick?" she said with raised eyebrows. "We can pull the table closer and you can put your foot up there."

"No, there's plenty of room for both of us on here. He scooted over to the edge of the couch. See, climb over. We can snuggle," he winked.

Kate shook her head at him, and Alexis and Martha just looked at each other rolling their eyes, but Kate did as he said. She climbed over his body and lay beside him on her side, with one of his arms around her at the back of the lounge. She laid her head, and rested her arm on his chest. Their legs tangled together and they shifted slightly so both were comfortable and there they stayed. It wasn't until the movie started that she realised it was going to be a very difficult position to drink her hot chocolate from, but right at that moment, she didn't seem to care.

Half way through the movie, Alexis and Martha excused themselves, saying it was late, and they needed to get to bed. Castle wasn't silly, he knew they were leaving him to have some alone time with Kate. They didn't want to find themselves in any awkward situations later.

The couple said goodnight and then continued watching the rest of the movie. Rick managed to make it to the end of the movie however, Kate had fallen asleep on his chest.

Rick knew he had been told that he made an excellent pillow before, and now it seemed that Kate was realising the same thing. This was the second time she had gone to sleep on him. He didn't want to wake her this time, and so since she was already changed and ready for bed he decided, he could carry her. Even with a sore ankle it couldn't be too difficult. He looked up the stairs and had to think about how he was going to do this.

Slowly, he rolled himself away from her, and then leaned over placing her hands around his neck he picked her up. She must have been a heavy sleeper, she hadn't even flinched. After walking a couple of steps, towards the stairs he redirected himself to his bedroom. There was no way he was going to be able to make it upstairs with Kate in his arms.

He made his way to his bedroom and gently placed her down on his bed, then covered her, hoping she was comfortable. He placed a kiss on her forehead then grabbed his own sleepwear, a pair of boxer shorts and an old t-shirt, and made his way up to the spare room.

* * *

Kate woke in the middle of the night unsure where she was. She could smell Rick, but she was in bed alone, he was nowhere to be seen. With the small amount of light let into the room from the moon she could see that this was not her room. Thinking back to the night before, she remembered she was at Rick's loft, but this was definitely not the spare room she had stayed in last time. Still waking up, it took a few minutes before she realised where she was. She was in Rick's bed, but where was he?

She quietly made her way out of the bed, and through the loft up to the spare room. It was there that she found him, sprawled out and fast asleep. He was adorable. She tiptoed around the bed and knelt before him, to see his face. There was very little light, but enough to see his face. He was smiling and must have been having a good dream. With one finger she lightly traced around his face to his chin, and then gently kissed him, causing his eyes to flutter open.

"K…Kate?" he said blinking his eyes open.

"What are you doing up here Rick?"

"You fell asleep me. Put you to bed. Came here. Easier. Sore ankle," he said. His sleepy state not letting him put together fully formed sentences.

"Well, I think you should have your bed back."

"It's ok. I'll stay."

"So, I got out of bed and came up here, for no reason? C'mon Castle. Let me give you your bed back. I'm sure you'd sleep better there. I know it's more comfortable."

Now that he was more awake, sentences were forming better. "If you really want to swap beds, I guess I'll go back to my own."

He climbed out of bed, and walked back down stairs while Kate watched him. It was almost like watching a zombie walk, with his slow sleepy state and his slight limp.

Rick was just closing his eyes after getting back into his own bed when a figure appeared at the door.

"Kate? Is that you?"

"Were you expecting someone else?" she teased.

"No. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm just coming back to bed."

"I thought you wanted… I thought you were… upstairs," Rick said still feeling half asleep and confused.

"Oh, _I_ never said that. I just said you could have your bed back. I didn't say you could have it to yourself."

She didn't wait for him to respond, she had already made her way over to the opposite side of his bed and was pulling back the covers and climbing in beside him.

Rick immediately rolled towards her, and pulled her back flush to his chest wrapping his arm around her stomach. He softly kissed the back of her neck which made her shiver a little, then he whispered in her ear. "We are getting very good at sharing, aren't we?"

"Shhhhh Rick, it's sleep time," she said.

Rick may not have been able to see the smile on Kate's face but he could hear it in her voice, and knowing she was happy to be there, in his arms, made him more joyful than he'd been in a while. He slipped one of his legs between hers and pulled her closer, feeling the warmth of her body along his. He felt her hand come up to join his and she interlocked their fingers together at her chest. He just lay there listening to her breathing as it slowed and evened out, and then he knew she was asleep. A few minutes later, he joined her in a blissful sleep.

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**I know... still not what some of you were expecting... but I like it this way :) hehe**


	40. Chapter 40

**Another chapter that kind of went in it's own direction... not what I had planned to write at all. It's funny how things like that happen. **

**Disclaimer... I do not make money from writing. I don't own Castle :)**

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When Kate woke in the morning, she was surprised to find her pillow was more firm than usual, and the sheets around her were slightly tighter. As she blinked her eyes open it didn't take long before she had remembered going to sleep in Rick's bed with him cuddled up close behind her. Somehow during the night they had moved themselves around and she now found herself resting on his chest and his arm was wrapped around her.

She could see that he was still happily sleeping, but she didn't want to just get up and go to work without saying anything. She was going to have to wake him up, but she was sure he wouldn't mind.

Rick had been enjoying his sleep, having wonderful dreams where Kate was in bed with him, cuddling up close, but he was rudely awakened by a fly buzzing around his face. He couldn't hear it, but he could feel it. He tried to blow it away a few times, but it just kept coming back. It seemed to like his nose. After a few failed attempts at blowing it away, he gave up.

He waved his arm up to his nose to shoo it away once more and opened his eyes. "Stupid…." he paused when he saw who was in bed with him. "Kate!" he said surprised.

"Stupid Kate? Not really the good morning I expected," Kate said giggling, she was now resting her chin on her hands looking at him face to face.

Her beautiful smile was the first thing he saw, and he knew right then that he wanted to wake to that smile every morning.

"I thought you were a fly," he said.

"I know. I was finding it quite funny actually."

"I'm sure you were. I'm glad it was you waking me up though. It's always nice to be woken by an amazing, beautiful, remarkable, beautiful, wonderful, beautiful, magnificant and did I mention incredibly beautiful woman."

"Seriously Rick?"

"Well, you are all those things" he smiled.

"Then I guess all I can say is that I haven't had that experience myself. Not since my mum used to wake me up for school."

Rick reached up to the tendril of hair that had fallen in front of Kate's face, and gently pushed it behind her ear, and they just stayed there looking at one another, breathing each other in and enjoying the warmth that their bodies were creating between them.

After a moment of silence, Kate was going to lean over to kiss him when she had a sudden thought, and rolled away from him.

"Morning breath! Mind if I use your bathroom?" she said jumping up out of the bed.

Rick sighed. She just got up way too quickly for his liking, he would have liked to keep her to himself just a little bit longer.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Um… Do you have a fresh towel I could use?" she asked, deciding that she should probably just have a shower and freshen up for the day of work while she was in there.

"Sure, I'll go get you one, do you need anything else?"

"No, I've got everything else I need in my bag," she said picking up her bag.

"When did you bring…?"

"Last night," she smiled. "So the towel? It's not going to find it's way to me if you stay in bed."

Rick got up quickly, found a towel for Kate and walked it back over to her where she was waiting just outside the bathroom door.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" he said with a smug grin. "I'm very helpful when you need to get those hard to reach places?"

Kate looked down and bit her bottom lip. It looked to Rick, like she was actually considering it. She lifted her hand to Rick's cheek and slowly ran it down, along his neck and to his chest.

"Not this time," she said as she winked and turned towards the bathroom, then closed and locked the door behind her.

She had almost said yes, she wanted him to join her, she could only imagine how much fun it would have been, but she also knew that if she said yes, she would find herself running extremely late for work.

* * *

When she came out of the bathroom, she was met with the aroma of fresh coffee. Following the scent she found Rick in the kitchen pouring out two coffees. There was bread in the toaster and he had bacon and eggs on the stove. He'd made her breakfast.

She walked behind him and ran one hand up his back until it reached his shoulder and her turned his face to look at her.

She went to kiss him as she had wanted to all morning, but paused. "Did you brush your teeth?" she asked.

"Yeah, used the other bathroom, so I could finally do this."

Rick pulled Kate in close so their bodies were pressed together and he united his lips with hers, trying to express with his mouth, exactly how he was feeling right at that moment. Remembering he had food cooking, he couldn't stay there as long as he would have liked, but after wanting to do that all morning, it was better than nothing.

"Wow," Kate said as he pulled away. Sure they had kissed before, but there was something more in it, it was somehow more passionate, there was more depth in it, it wasn't just a kiss, it was more than that. She couldn't quite figure it out, but she was pretty certain there was more to come.

"Thanks for breakfast," Kate said as Rick joined her on the stools at the bench.

"Anything for you,"

"So, what are the plans for today? Your ankle doesn't seem to be bothering you too much. Wanna join me at the precinct? There'll be no chasing suspects for you though."

"Oh, detective Beckett. Did you miss me yesterday? Want me back there already? You only had me there a couple of days, how did you manage before I came along? "

She rolled her eyes at him. "No, I just feel bad for you having to be around here resting all day on your own. We have a couch in the break room, so if you need to rest, you can in there."

"That's very sweet of you but, I do actually have to go see my publicist. She called me yesterday so I said I'd drop by this morning, but I'll join you at the precinct as soon as I get away."

They finished up their breakfast and Kate told Rick she had just enough time to help him tidy up but then, she had to get into the precinct.

Rick watched Kate making her way around his kitchen like she was at home. She was so comfortable. It was crazy to think they had only known each other for such a short space of time, but it was what made it so obvious that she was right for him. There was no awkwardness between them, it was fun, and it felt right.

Kate was rinsing off the last of the plates when she heard Castle coming up behind her.

"Are you sure you have to go right away?" he said taking the last step towards her so that his chest was now only centimeters from her back.

"Yes. I know we closed the case yesterday, but I still have all that paperwork to do, and I want to get it done before another body drops."

"Are you sure? Just stay a little longer?" he said whispering into her ear as he snaked his arms up under her shirt and around her waist.

The feel of his hands on her skin immediately caused goose bumps all over her body, and she took in a sharp breath of air.

Rick started moving his thumbs around in small circles on her stomach and Kate had to grab hold of the kitchen bench in front of her to stop herself from turning and pushing him back towards the bedroom. His hands were soft and gentle, and she wished she had time for more, but it just couldn't happen. She didn't want their first time to be rushed, she wanted it to be meaningful, she wanted it to be perfect.

Kate closed her eyes to try and get herself under control, but it didn't work because Rick had other ideas, and he was not stopping.

His hands ran further around her waist so she was trapped and he pulled her closer so there was no space between them. He placed his lips on her neck, just under her chin, and nipped lightly, then ran his tongue over the area to soothe it. Kate couldn't stop herself from tilting her head to the side to give him more access to the area, and he responded immediately. Suckling along her neck causing her to moan in pleasure.

"See, you don't really want to go anywhere do you?" he said peppering kisses along the back of her neck to the other side where once again she tilted her head giving him more access.

"No," she managed to get out, surprised she got any words out at all. But it wasn't the word she wanted to say. She had to get going but at the same time, she didn't want to stop what was happening.

Rick finished on Kate's neck and turned her around in his arms. He looked into her eyes and the passion coming out of them was so intense he was sure it could have burnt a hole through anything. He kissed her fervently and she finally gave in. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him back just as passionately as he was giving it to her. He turned and pushed them away from the sink, then lifted her onto the bench.

Kate let out a small laugh as he lifted her but never once let go of him.

He stepped into the V of her legs and ran his arms up and down her thighs as their tongues continues to battle for dominance within each others mouths.

Kate was not sure she wanted to stop this anymore. Maybe now was the right time, maybe she could go into the precinct late. Nobody would notice anyway.

Just as she was giving in to the thought that they could be going all the way, her phone rang from where it was sitting on the bench.

She pulled away slightly from Rick and removed one hand to look at the phone.

"Don't answer it, let it go," he said, almost begging.

"It's the precinct, I have to get this," she sighed.

"Beckett," she answered, trying not to sound like she was just in the middle of a major make out session.

When she hung up the phone, she could see that Rick was disappointed. "I'm sorry, I have to go. The captain wants to see me in his office in 20 minutes."

"I should probably go have a shower then, and I'll see you at the precinct later."

"Yeah. We'll pick this up a little later," she winked not wanting him to think she was running away from what was potentially going to happen.

Rick helped Kate down from the bench and walked her to the door. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'll see you at the precinct. Let me know when you're on your way."

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**Don't hate me :) haha**

**Oh and I think I've finally got the story line sorted for the rest of this, it's changed a couple of times, but I think I like what I've decided on... YAY!**


	41. Chapter 41

**I think it was RickB that left a review for the last chapter, but I couldn't privately respond. I just wanted to say thank you. Your review has been very helpful. I'm not sure that I'll improve immediately with what you had mentioned.. but there are points in this chapter where I thought more about what I really needed there. **

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When Kate arrived at the precinct, Captain Montgomery was waiting for her in his office.

"Sir, you wanted to see me?" she said as she knocked on the open door.

"Yes, come in."

Kate entered and took a seat in front of the captain.

"We have a new detective starting with us today, Detective Guy," he started.

Kate's eyes snapped up at the captain when he said the new detectives name. Surely there has to be more than one cop out there with the name Guy, at least she hoped there was.

"He has been working over at the 24th precinct," he continued, "but has been promoted to homicide detective and is being transferred over to the 12th. I have organized him to begin working with you for the first couple of days while he learns the ropes."

"Sir, Detective Guy?" she questioned.

"Yes," he looked down at the paperwork sitting on his desk. "A Detective Julian Guy."

"I'm really not sure partnering him with me is a good idea," she said quietly, knowing exactly who he was.

"Look, I know you have history with this guy. He told me himself when I mentioned you, and I don't care about your history."

"But…"

"There's no but's Beckett. All the others detectives have partners or are on holiday. You were the only option. This is your job, and you will act professionally."

"What about Castle? I know he's not a cop, so he's not really officially my partner, but are you just going to push him out like that? After he signed all those documents, you can't tell him that after 2 days, that's it for him."

"I don't expect we'll be seeing Castle until next week due to his injured ankle. By then, Detective Mueller will be back from holidays so Guy will be partnered with him."

"Actually, Castle is doing a lot better and said he was coming in the afternoon. He had to meet with his publicist this morning."

"Then you'll have to work it out between the three of you. Detective Guy will be here shortly, I'll send him over to you when he arrives. Now I believe you have paperwork to get finished from yesterday."

"Yes sir," Kate said unenthusiastically as she turned and left the room.

Sitting down at her desk she tried to think about the last time she had seen Julian Guy. They met in police academy and had a thing for a while. It was brief but intense. He had been extremely flirty all those years ago and she was in a weird place in her life, she just didn't have the strength to say no to him. She had almost become addicted to him, not for who he was, but because he allowed her to hide from her real life. She used him to forget about all the stuff that was really going on. And then after a couple of months, he just disappeared. He hadn't told her where he was going and he just left. She hadn't seen or heard from him ever again, and now he was coming in to her precinct and she had to show him around.

She wasn't worried about falling for his flirting charms again, she was completely happy with Rick. She had never felt as strongly for anyone the way she did with him, but she was a little worried about how Guy was going to act around her. She hoped that he had gotten over his overly flirty ways, and he was there just to focus on the job.

Knowing Rick would be there with her made her feel a little more comfortable about the whole thing. Although she didn't want Guy to find out about her relationship with Rick, she knew having him there would keep her calm if he did try anything.

When Julian arrived at the precinct, Beckett put on her best professional face, shook his hand and allowed him to sit down in the seat beside her desk. She had started to think of it as Castle's seat and wished it was him sitting there and not Guy, but she put that aside and started explaining their previous case.

As she worked, she could feel Guy's eyes on her, staring at her creepily. She ignored it hoping he would just stop, but after a few minutes he leaned in closer and reached his hand out putting it on her arm.

"You know, you're still as beautiful now as you were all those years ago," he said.

Kate lifted his hand off her arm and put it down on the table further away from her.

"Not going to happen," she said without even looking up at him.

When Kate's phone rang to tell her of a new body drop she was relieved, glad to be getting out of the precinct. It would give Guy something other than her to focus on. She was even more relieved when Rick called as they were on their way to the scene.

* * *

"So I hear you have an arrangement with a civilian that is working with you. Where is he today?" Guy asked as they walked over to the body.

"He's on his way," Beckett said wanting to keep any conversation between them short, especially when it had nothing to do with their job.

"And am I right in believing that said civilian is Richard Castle, the writer?"

"Yes."

"Does he know you're a fan."

"You know what? We're at a crime scene, and there is a dead body. How about you focus on that."

"Wow, Detective Beckett, you really have changed haven't you? So focused. Don't you wish you could just go back to those days at the academy, you know…" he stepped closer and ran his fingers up her arm.

The feel of his fingers made her jump back. She couldn't believe he was actually trying to make a move on her.

"Seriously?" she said getting angry. "No, I don't wish to go back to those days. I am happy now, and I don't need you ruining that. So keep your filthy hands to yourself!"

"I remember you used to like my hands."

Kate ignored him once again and walked a little faster to where Lanie was with the body.

"Lanie," she called. "What've we got today?"

Castle got to the crime scene after meeting with Paula, his publicist. There was an event which she wanted him to go to on the weekend, and told him he needed to take a date for publicity purposes. She had even offered to set one up for him, but Castle had declined, telling her he hoped that he had someone already. He decided that while looking over a dead body probably wasn't the best time to bring something like that up with Kate though.

Guy was the first to notice Castle walking towards them. "This must be your famous civilian partner now."

"Yes, and you have a case to focus on, so don't even think about talking to him about me. Lanie, can you please give Detective Guy all the details? I'll go fill Castle in."

Beckett smiled over at Castle as she made her way towards him. She really wanted to be enclosed in his arms, but knew she couldn't. When she reached him she explained the details of the case to Castle and told him about Detective Guy.

"You know, the way he's been looking at you, makes me think there's history there." he said.

"I'd rather not talk about that right now."

"Right, so there is history. Does he know about us?"

"No," she took a deep breath, "and he doesn't need to know."

The look on Castle's face told her that she needed to explain further. She didn't want him to think that she still liked the other detective.

"You have nothing to worry about Castle. It was ages ago. He's a creep. I'm with you now and I want to be with you, only you. I'm just not ready for others to know about us yet. Especially him. He's the type of guy who would just make jokes every 5 seconds about it."

Castle nodded to let her know that he understood. He also realised that maybe he was going to have to take the date that Paula was going to arrange to the weekend event.

It wasn't long after Kate walked over to talk to Ryan and Esposito that Guy came over to introduce himself to Castle.

"She's really something isn't she," Guy said looking in Beckett's direction.

"Yeah, she really is," Castle replied smiling.

"So, you like her?"

"I can see you do too!"

"Oh, she likes me too, she just needs a little reminding."

Castle had barely spent any time with this guy, and he didn't like him already. It took a lot of will power to stop himself from just punching the guy in the face. He wanted to respect Kate's wishes though, so he reminded himself to stay professional and not mention their relationship.

"Reminding? I'm sure she does not need anything of the sort?" he said trying to discourage Guy and send a warning to him at the same time.

"Oh, getting a little protective there? You really do like her, don't you? Is that why you're following her around? C'mon, don't you think that's a little unprofessional," he laughed.

Castle shook his head. "You think the way you're acting right now is professional?"

Guy had no response, he just walked off in a huff back towards the other detectives.

Castle took a deep breath and followed. The next few days were going to be difficult with him around.

* * *

**Just a few things: I know I just made up some random guy from Kate's past. I was tempted to bring in Sorenson, but I felt that if I did that I was restricting what I could do with the character. Detective Guy wont be in for long, and there is a reason for him to be there. **

**I feel like there was something else I was going to say about this chapter, but I don't remember what it was right now. So if I remember I'll come back and write it later. **


	42. Chapter 42

When they got back to the precinct from the scene Beckett asked Castle if he wanted to go across the road to pick up some lunch. It wasn't because she was hungry, she just wanted to time to talk to Rick without Julian around.

She waited until Ryan, Esposito and Guy were out of site then she took Rick's hand and led him across the road to get some food.

"It's good to get some time with you away from the guys," Kate said.

"Yeah, it is," he leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "And can I just say, I'm not sure I really like the new guy. You really have a history with him?"

"I was a different person back then Rick. I didn't know what I was looking for."

"But you know now?"

"I think so. I'm getting there," she said and bit her bottom lip.

Castle had seen her do this a few times, and he thought it was adorable.

"So, what did you and Guy talk about back at the crime scene?" Kate asked curiously.

"Um, he thinks you need reminding that you like him."

"Really?" Kate laughed.

"Yeah, don't worry though. Even though I would have liked to rub it in his face that you were taken, I didn't tell him about us."

"Thanks. So, how was your meeting with Paula?"

"It wasn't bad. The thing with publicists is that they always want something."

"What did she want this time?" Kate asked.

"It's... it's nothing. So what would you like to eat?" he said changing the subject.

"Well, I want to get back to the precinct quickly so I guess I'll just go a burger. They are usually fairly fast at putting them together."

"Coming right up," he said pulling Kate towards the counter to place their orders.

"Rick, you don't need to pay for my lunch."

"I know, but I like to."

Kate smiled and squeezed his hand. "Thanks."

They waited for their order and then had to go back to the precinct.

"That break was much too short," said Castle as they got onto the elevator.

"I know, but it's how it's got to be. When we have a case, we don't really get much break time."

"I know," Castle sighed.

While they were alone in the elevator, Kate quickly reached over to Rick placing her hand on his cheek, and gave him a chaste kiss to the lips. She knew today was going to be difficult for him, and she hoped that it was enough to get him through the afternoon, until they were both able to go home.

"Detective Beckett," Castle said slightly shocked. "We're in the precinct."

"I know. I just couldn't help myself."

For the rest of the day, Castle watched as another guy tried to flirt with his woman. He had to admit, Beckett was handling it very well. If he was her, he would have snapped hours ago.

When they drove around the city, he was put in the back seat, which he didn't like very much at all. He felt like people driving past were looking at him as if he was a criminal. He was thankful that Kate drove an unmarked vehicle so it wasn't obvious that he was in a police car. What Castle hated most about the trips in the car was having to watch Detective Guy attempt to lean in and whisper in Beckett's ear. Each time she pulled away and glared at him before he got too close, but Castle just wanted to kick him out of the car.

At the precinct, they would all sit around the whiteboard and whenever Castle had a theory, Guy would try and shut him down. At one point Beckett had defended Castle, which made him feel pretty special. He could see that Guy hadn't liked it one bit, especially when it wasn't his ideas they followed up.

Kate had felt sorry for Rick all afternoon, she could see how hard things were for him, worse than she had expected, because Julian was worse than she had expected. She did her best to give him reassuring smiles whenever she could, but sometimes she didn't feel like it was enough. She had ignored all of Guy's attempts at flirting with her but for some reason it hadn't stopped him and as the day progressed she could see Rick was finding it harder to stay calm.

When evening came, there were still a few things Beckett was waiting to come through but she didn't want to keep Rick there any longer. She needed him to go home before he burst and hit something, or someone.

She left Guy with Ryan and Esposito at the whiteboard and called Castle into the break room, closing the door behind them.

"Castle, I think you need to go home."

"Are you coming with me?" he asked, hoping she would say yes.

"No, I've got to stay. You know we're waiting on things to come through."

"Is _he_ staying?" Castle asked referring to Guy, and scrunching up his nose.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Well, then I'm not going anywhere. Do you know how hard it's been today, watching him flirt with you. I don't know how you deal with it. Can't we tell the captain to put him with someone else?"

"I tried this morning but apparently there is no other option. It's just for a couple of days. We can get through this."

Castle sighed heavily.

Kate looked out the window to make sure nobody was coming in. She placed her hand on his shoulder tenderly and ran her hand down his arm until she held his hand.

Rick looked down and then back at her, unsure if he should allow her to keep hold of his hand, she was breaking her number one rule yet again.

"Rick," she said softly. "You need to go home, I can see that you're struggling with him here. I'm surprised you haven't knocked him out yet and..."

"I have wanted to so many times," he interrupted.

"I know. I can tell," she laughed. The idea that he would care that much for her, that he would be willing to knock another guy out surprised her. "It's kinda sweet. But, the last thing we need in the precinct is a fist fight between the new detective and the civilian working on cases with him. Not to mention it'll probably ruin your chances of ever coming in here again, and you'd probably get booked for assaulting an officer."

"Well, I'm not happy about you being here with him without me. How do I know he's not going to try anything? "

"We're in the precinct, and I won't be going anywhere else tonight. If something comes up, I'll call you. I wont take him anywhere alone in my car okay?"

"Okay, I'll do as you say. Call me when you finish. I wont sleep until I know you're home safe."

"Nothing is going to happen," she said shaking her head smiling trying to convince him it was okay. "I really doubt he'll try anything. I think after me turning down his advances all day, he's finally realising that I'm really not interested."

"You know I'd be much happier if you were coming with me," he raised his eyebrows, "so we could finish what we started this morning."

Castle stepped closer just as Esposito poked his head through the door. Beckett immediately dropped Castle's hand and turned towards the opening door.

"Beckett, we've got something," Esposito said.

"I promise I'll call you later Castle," she said and she followed Esposito back out to the board.

* * *

It was another few hours before Beckett and the boys finally had all the information together and had a number of leads to follow the next morning.

As she went to the break room to wash her coffee mug, Guy followed close behind.

"So, Kate…."

"It's Detective Beckett."

"Oh sorry," he said mockingly. "Detective Beckett, how about we go out for a drink and catch up?"

"I have plans already." Beckett said bluntly, not even turning to look at him.

"There's no need to lie to me, it's late. What plans could you possibly have? I know you're just going to go home and go to bed. We can always skip the drink if you'd like," he said walking closer to her.

"Seriously Julian! I am not interested. Now would you just leave me alone." Kate said turning now to face him.

"C'mon, I know you don't really want that."

He was inching towards her, causing her to take steps back away from him until she found herself trapped in the corner. She didn't want to have to use force against him, but if he got any closer she would have no choice.

"Why don't you get it? You better not get any closer."

Guy moved quicker that Kate had expected and before she could stop him his lips were on hers, but she pushed him back and had him pinned on his stomach with his hand bent behind his back in seconds.

"Don't you ever try anything like that again."

"I'm sorry. Can I have my hand back? You're kinda hurting me." Kate had taken him by surprise and all the flirtiness was now gone from his voice.

"Not so confident now, are you?"

"I'm sorry, I overstepped."

"You overstepped as soon as you got here, and I should have done more to stop you, but I thought you would get the picture. Seriously, did you think that after all these years, you could just come back and things would be like they used to be?"

"Kind of. You are really hurting my arm."

Kate let go of his arm and stepped away allowing him to get up.

"Now I'm going home, and you are not coming with me. I will be speaking to the captain first thing in the morning about this."

* * *

**So... who hates the new guy?**


	43. Chapter 43

Castle was sitting watching television when he received Kate's text to say she was in the elevator. He had asked her to call but he really hadn't expected her to be joining him at the loft.

He got up and opened the door just as she reached the other side.

Before he even got a word out, she crashed into his chest, embracing him. He immediately returned the hug and rubbed circles on her back trying to calm her, knowing that something had obviously happened.

"Hey," he said softly, "What's wrong?"

Kate pulled back to look up at his face. "He kissed me, Rick. He actually kissed me. He… I… He's just so… ugh!"

"How? What happened?" Rick asked holding back the anger that made him want to go out and find this guy and teach him a lesson. Right now, Kate needed him.

"He cornered me in the break room, and he wouldn't back off. I had to tackle him to the ground. Let's just say, I think he may finally get that I'm not interested."

Castle pulled her head into rest on his chest again and kissed her head.

"It's ok," he said. "We'll talk to Montgomery tomorrow. It's sexual harassment, and it shouldn't be happening. I don't care if there's no other detectives to put him with this week, he's not going to be working with you." He felt the anger starting to rise again so he took a deep breath to compose himself and thought back to the woman in his arms. "Right now, how about I run you a bath? You can relax and freshen up."

"Sounds great."

Rick led Kate through to his bathroom and started running the bath. He made sure he put a lot of bubble mixture in, found a clean towel and lit a few scented candles.

"You've got candles in your bathroom?"

"Yeah, I like the way they smell."

Kate laughed. Sure, she had candles in her bathroom, but she hadn't expected to find them in a mans bathroom.

"I'll be right back, make yourself comfortable," he said walking out and closing the door to give her some privacy.

Castle returned a minute later with a glass of wine.

Knocking on the door he asked, "Would you like wine now or later?"

"A glass of wine now would be perfect," Beckett called through the door.

"Are you decent? Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

When Castle walked into his bathroom, he was surprised to see that Kate was already in the tub.

"I… Sorry," he swallowed. "You said you were decent."

"I am," Kate said with a smile. "Completely covered by the bubbles."

"Right," he said handing her the wine glass but looking over his other shoulder, wanting to give her some privacy. "Well I'll just be in my room, let me know if you need anything."

"Wait, stay," she said. "What I need, is for you to stay here with me. You help me feel relaxed."

Well Castle wasn't going to say no, so he took a seat next to the bathtub, facing away and leanding his back on the tut. He still wanted to give her as much privacy as possible even though she was the one that asked him to stay.

They remained there for a while. Nobody spoke, but Kate could feel herself relaxing more and more every minute. She may have dozed off for a few minutes until she was revisited by the thoughts about what had happened that day.

"I can't believe he thought he could just start things back like they were after so long." Kate said taking a sip of wine. "He went away years ago, he just left, didn't even really talk to me about it, and he thinks that years later when he comes back, I would have been what..? Waiting for him?" She really just needed to get it off her chest, holding it in was not going to help her relax at all.

Castle fought the urge to turn and look at her as he spoke. "You are an amazing woman. He was silly for leaving you all those years ago. But you know I'm thankful that he did, because now I get you, and I'm not letting you go."

There was a moment of silence before Castle spoke again. "He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No"

"Good. Seriously, if he hurt you, I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from going after him."

"Don't worry, I got him back pretty good. I'm quite sure he's going to be feeling a little sore tomorrow."

When Rick sighed, Kate knew it was because he thought he should have been there to protect her. Things shouldn't have gotten this bad.

"Rick, look at me."

He turned to face her.

"Guy, he's a creep. But you… you are wonderful. You had to listen to him make flirty comments all day, and you still did as I asked and didn't mention us to him. You let me handle it my own way and I know that must have been difficult. And then when I asked you to come home, you did, even though you didn't want to. I know you wanted to defend me, but we're going to come across times where that's just not practical."

Castle smiled. "I do want to protect you, especially from guys like that, but I trust you, and I know when you sent me home today, it was for me. You were looking out for me. So thank you."

"I just want you to know I appreciated everything you did today. And now, even as I sit here, all you want to do is take care of me. You tell me that I'm amazing, but you being all protective and caring, do you realise how amazing you are?"

Castle rested his elbow on the bathtub and his head against his raised hand, and again the couple sat quietly while Kate soaked in the tub.

This time it was Rick who must have dozed off and was startled away when Kate asked him to pass her the towel.

Rick picked up the towel and held it out to Kate, but he closed his eyes and looked the other way.

Kate took the towel wrapped it around herself then made her way to stand in front of Rick. She laughed when she saw that he was holding his eyes so tightly shut. But then she leaned in close and surprise kissed him, making him take a few steps back. The next thing Castle knew, he had fallen backwards into the tub fully clothed. Thankfully, he fell gracefully and hadn't hurt himself.

"Oops!" Kate said with a cheeky expression. "Looks like you're going to have to get out of those wet clothes now."

She ran out of the bathroom closing the door behind her, and left Rick on his own.

_What just happened?_ Rick thought as he sat in his bathtub, with his legs still dangling out the side.

He got out of the tub and found a towel, he dried his clothes off enough that he wasn't dripping then went through to his bedroom to find some other clothes. But instead, he found Kate sitting on his bed dressed in one of his shirts, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Your clothes are still on," she said walking towards him seductively.

"And you put more clothes on," he returned taking a few steps towards her.

She was now standing face to face with him with her arms around his neck, and he could feel her breath on his lips as she spoke. "I didn't want to rob you the opportunity of being able to undress me yourself."

"How is it that you know me so well?"

"Time to stop talking now" Kate said crashing into him passionately, not caring that the dampness of Ricks wet clothing was transferring onto hers.

It wasn't long before Ricks tongue was running along Kate's lips, begging for entrance, and she immediately let him in. They continued their assault of each others mouths while Rick pushed them towards the nearest wall.

Ricks mouth started moving down towards Kate's pulse point on her neck and she moaned in pleasure. Rick slowly undid the top few buttons of her shirt and started placing kisses down her chest when Kate's hand came either side of his face and pulled him back up to her lips. She let go of his face and moved to undo his shirt while she nipped and licked at his mouth.

She ran her hands up his chest and pushed his shirt down to the ground, and then allowed Castle to finish working on her shirt so it could join his.

They both took a second to study the specimen in front of them. Rick now stood shirtless while Kate was now just in matching black lace bra and panties. Rick was on Kate again within seconds, pushing her more forcefully against the wall. Her hands were making their way to his belt but he stopped them and held them above her head so she was unable to move. They were now skin to skin, the heat from their bodies almost too much to handle. The passion was like that of a roaring fire, impossible to put out. He pushed his leg between hers, pressing against her already aching groin.

"R… Rick," she mumbled. She could feel his growing erection pressing against her. She knew he must have been in some pain and in need of release and it made her want him so much more. No more of this slow business, she wanted him now.

He let go of one of her hands and she wrapped it around his neck. One leg had a mind of it's own as it lifted to rest on his hip. Rick let go of her other hand and lifted her other leg around his body so that he was now holding her against the wall and she could feel him, right where she wanted him.

"You're wet," she managed to get out.

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" he grinned smugly.

"Oh God Rick… bed now!"

Rick walked her over to the bed and lay her down, then crawled over the top of her. She had his belt unbuckled and his pants unbuttoned in seconds and he pushed them down throwing them on the floor, before he hovered above her.

He teased her with his hands, slowly removing her underwear, until she was begging for more, begging for him to be inside her, and once again, he was not going to say no to this woman.

He did just as she had wanted as they rolled over each other a number of times, switching places, fighting for dominance and loving every minute of it. When they finally came together, they rolled away and collapsed next to each other panting.

"Did I tell you how amazing you are?" Rick said when he finally caught his breath.

* * *

**Keeping it T rated :)**


	44. Chapter 44

Kate was woken early the next morning by butterfly kisses that started on her forehead, and slowly moved down her nose, finally landing on her lips. As soon as Rick's lips met her own she caught him by surprise, deepened the kiss and opened her mouth to him and took his bottom lip in between her own.

"Mmmm…" he hummed, before pulling away to look at the beautiful woman tangled with him in his bed.

"I wouldn't mind waking up like that more often, much better than the phone or the alarm."

"I'm sure we can arrange that," Castle responded with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

Kate could hear the concern in his voice. "I'm feeling great actually."

"So you don't…"

"No, I don't regret anything," she said stopping him from worrying.

Castle started tracing circles on Kate's stomach. "Good. Because I plan to have many more nights like that."

She felt her stomach twitch beneath his fingers. "And it'll only get better," she teased.

"Oh really?" he asked, pulling Kate so she was lying on top of him.

"Really," she leant down and kissed him quickly. "But, right now I need to have a shower and we need to get to the precinct."

Rick tried to stop her from rolling away, without success. He should have known by this point that she was stronger than she looked.

He watched as she moved to the bathroom. "Should I join you? We can save some time" he called out just before she made it to the door.

Looking over her shoulder she returned, "I think you joining me would have the opposite effect. Maybe next time."

Rick waited a few minutes, then finally decided he needed to get up. When he got to the kitchen he started the coffee maker and was just about to start making breakfast when he realised Kate probably just wanted to get to the precinct as soon as possible. Maybe it would be better to buy something on the run.

He made his way back into his bedroom and could no longer hear the shower running. He knocked on the door and Kate told him he could enter.

Walking up behind her at the mirror he kissed her cheek. "The coffee maker is on if you want one before we leave, but I was thinking we could get breakfast on the run," he said speaking to her reflection in the mirror.

"Yeah, I'd like to get to the precinct as soon as I can."

"Well, do you mind if I have my shower now?"

"Go ahead."

As Rick began to undress, Kate couldn't help but watch him in the mirror biting her bottom lip. Memories of the night before flooded her mind and she could feel heat growing all over her body. She knew it must have been obvious by the redness on her cheeks and the way she was shifting her weight uncomfortably trying to stop herself from going to him.

Knowing he was being watched, Rick winked at her before disappearing behind the glass door.

Kate finished her hair at the mirror and decided to do her make up back in the bedroom where she wouldn't be taunted by the fact the Castle was naked in the same room. Castle was just making his way out of the bathroom when she was finished, and ten minutes later they were walking out the door making their way to the precinct.

* * *

The morning had gone extremely well for the pair. After talking to Captain Montgomery and filing a complaint against Detective Guy, an arrangement was made that Guy was to be on desk duty until his actual partner was available, and he received a warning that if anything like that was to happen again, further disciplinary action would be taken.

Rick was glad not to have to worry about Guy for the day and he was able to get a chance to talk to Kate about the event the following night. After the changes in their relationship over the past 24 hours, he thought that maybe she would have changed her mind about telling others, and he was feeling fairly confident that she would say yes.

Without having closed the case yet he knew it was going to be almost impossible to get her out of the precinct for a long period of time, but by turning on the charm he managed to convince her to go across to the café across the road for lunch, saying they'd be back within thirty minutes when Ryan and Esposito were due to return with a suspect.

"You know how I had that meeting with Paula yesterday?" he said as they sat with their lunch.

Kate nodded as she bit down on a chip.

"Well, there's an event she wants me to attend tomorrow, a fundraiser for The Starr Foundation. She wants me to take a date."

Kate looked at him and furrowed her eyebrows. "A date?"

"She says it's good for publicity."

"Publicity, right," she nodded.

"Kate Beckett, would you be my date for the evening?"

"Rick… I"

"Paula said she'd organize one, but I'd be much happier taking you. I know you said you wanted to keep this to ourselves but, I'd really like you to be there with me," he said quickly.

"But there'll be cameras, and they'll be taking lots of pictures?"

Kate was beginning to freak out. Sure, the previous night had been great, but that didn't mean she was suddenly ready to go out in public and tell everyone about their relationship. She liked what they had and she was worried that sharing it with the world would put more pressure on them. And what if it didn't work out between them? It would be splashed about the papers like it was entertainment. She really was not ready for this.

"Yeah, there will be photos. But I can arrange it so it's only on the way in. As a contributor to the foundation, they are usually fairly happy to respect my wishes."

"It's not the actual photos or the taking of photos that worries me Rick, it's where they will be posted, and what that means for us, and for me. Everyone will know." She took a deep breath. "My father doesn't even know about us yet. I don't want him to pick up the paper on Sunday to see pictures of us plastered on it's pages. I can't do that to him. I need to tell him properly."

"We'll go see him, we can tell him tonight. He doesn't have to find out through the paper," Rick said sounding desperate.

"I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"You've met my family."

"But this is my _dad_, it's different."

"Kate please," Rick reached out and took her hands in his. "Come with me. We'll tell people you're just a friend. Nobody needs to know."

"What about work? I can't just take time off in the middle of a case."

"We'll get someone to cover, I'm sure they'll understand."

"No!" she said and then looked down at their hands. She couldn't look at his face anymore, she hated seeing the hurt that was growing in his eyes. She didn't want to hurt him, but he was pushing, and she couldn't deal with it. "Why are you so adamant that I go along to this one? There'll be more events. I'll come to another one. You should ask Paula to set you up with a date."

"But, I don't want another date," he said quietly, placing his finger under her chin and lifting her face to look at him. "I know it's hard, I know this is a big step for you, and I understand that. You're the one I want, you're the only person I want to be photographed with. I don't know how you've done it but, it's like you've taken my heart, no, I've given you my heart, and your name has been tattooed across it. This is it for me. And I want the world to know… I'm in love with you Kate Beckett."

Kate jumped back. "You what? Rick. You barely know me."

"I know you Kate. I know that you are a beautiful, incredible, astonishing, surprising, amazing, sometimes frustrating but extraordinary woman. I know you've had some tough things happen in your life, but you've grown from them and they've made you stronger. I know that you have such a deep love waiting to be let out, but you're afraid. You don't need to be afraid with me. We can do this together."

"Rick," she was holding back tears. "I'm sorry. I'm not ready for this. Call Paula. Take the date."

Kate got up from her seat and Rick watched as she made her way out of the café.

"Kate, wait!" he called as he ran out after her.

Castle didn't catch up with her until he got to the precinct elevator.

They stepped inside together, and he could see that Kate was uncomfortable.

"Look," he said. "I'm sorry I pushed. I stepped over the line. I'll call Paula and I'll tell her to organize the date."

The rest of the afternoon was spent working on the case but the air between them was almost uncomfortable.

At the end of the day, Kate said she needed to go back to her apartment and when Rick asked if she wanted him to join her, she had turned him down.

Kate needed some time alone. Time to think about everything and to make sense of what Rick had said to her earlier in the day.

"Take tomorrow off Rick. Make sure you're rested before the fundraiser tomorrow night," Kate said as they left the precinct.

"Kate?"

"Don't worry Rick. I just need time to think. I'll call you okay."

* * *

**Don't worry... I have a plan!**

**For those of you who are now wondering why I introduced Guy... it should all make more sense in the next chapter, which I hope to get posted soon. I am just about to start writing it, so if it comes easily it'll be up in a few hours :)**


	45. Chapter 45

Kate hardly slept all night. She was constantly replaying Rick's words in her head. _I know you. I'm in love with you. _It was as if her mind was on repeat and those few words were all she could hear. How did she end up in this position?

The problem was, she couldn't actually figure out why it was she was so scared of those words. She knew Rick cared for her, and she had known there was more to their last night together than just a night of lust and fulfilling an aching need between them. He had actually made love to her, it was different from all the others times with anyone else. She knew in the way that he looked at her, the way he held her and the way he wanted to care and protect her that he had loved her. So why had it scared her so much when he actually said it to her?

The truth was that she wasn't afraid of him loving her. She was afraid of herself not being able to love him. She was broken and she wasn't sure she would ever be complete. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to love him the way that he loved her, and it just wouldn't be fair on him. It was already obvious that he was more ready for it than she was. He was ready to tell the world, and she was afraid to even tell her father.

When her alarm went off at 6am, she dragged herself out of bed and made her way to the precinct. She wasn't sure she'd be able to concentrate but she had a job to do. She had to learn to compartmentalize.

When she arrived at the precinct she was surprised to see a man sitting in the chair next to her desk, with his head down. The disappointment she felt shocked her when she realised that the figure sitting in the chair was too small to be Rick.

"Guy? What are you doing here?" she said making her way to her desk.

"I came to apologize."

"Really?" she said in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes. I'm sorry for all the things I said during the other day, I was inappropriate, and for little touches, I should have kept my hands to myself. And the kiss, well I really don't know what I was thinking."

"I don't know what you were thinking either," Kate said. She could hear the sincerity in his voice and she was a little taken aback by it, "but I accept your apology," she finished.

Detective Guy let out the breath he was holding as she spoke. "Good. Because I was wondering if we could forget all that, put it aside and start over. I like you, and I think what we had all those years ago was special. We can get that back."

Kate couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"Are you serious? You think that was special. You don't know what special is. I don't want that back. I found special, and I'll tell you it's so much more than what we had back then. It's more than just fun and games, it's more than just fighting for attention. It's," she paused. "I can't describe it, and I'm not sure I want to. It's territory I've never been to before but I want to continue to explore. It's a place I want to learn more about and as scary as it is, I want it." She stopped speaking and her breathing became heavy, as the realization of what she had been saying hit her.

Guy was now extremely lost at what Kate was saying. "Um… Beckett?"

"I.. um…" She sat down. She needed to stop her heart from beating so fast. She didn't know what to say anymore, she just stared into space, as she repeated the last few words she spoke. "I want it."

"I should have read the signs better. It's Castle, you're in love with Richard Castle. The way you look at each other, how did I not even notice? I'm sorry again. I should go," Guy said as he got up.

Kate watched as Guy walked out with her mouth wide open. She hadn't mentioned Rick. Was it really that obvious? How could others see it when she hadn't? Was she really falling in love with Rick?

She had to focus. She had a case to solve. Thoughts about Rick and how she felt about him were going to have to wait. One thing she did know though, was that she was in desperate need of girl talk with Lanie.

* * *

Kate was home from work by 6pm. They hadn't been able to solve the case, but Ryan and Esposito had sent her home. They knew she had something on her mind and even though she didn't like the idea of leaving them with the case, she knew they could go on without her just for one night.

She expected Lanie at 6:30 but was becoming impatient waiting. She looked at her phone multiple times. She had wanted to message Castle all day, but she didn't know what to say. He hadn't called or messaged her, but she had said that she would call him. Now he would probably be getting ready for the evening and he wouldn't have time to talk to her.

After circling her apartment a number of times, she finally picked up her phone and messaged him.

_I missed you today._

Barely a minute went by before she received a reply.

_I missed you too. _

His reply brought a smile to her face. He wasn't angry, he was just giving her space like she had asked.

_Let's talk tonight. My place after your party?_

This gave her plenty of time to talk to Lanie and figure out exactly what she was going to say and do with Rick. No matter what was going on, she didn't want to hurt him by waiting days or weeks before she saw him again, and she really did want to see him sooner rather than later.

_It could be late, but I'll try to get out early. _

_Don't worry about the time. I just need to see you. _

_I'll call you when I'm on my way. _

Kate read the last reply and then opened the door to Lanie.

"Ok girl. You sounded almost desperate on the phone. What's up?"

"Lanie…" she stopped with her mouth open not sure what to say. "We should sit."

They walked to the sofa, and sat down.

"Spill. What is going on with you?"

"I think I may be falling for Rick" she said so fast that Lanie was almost unable to understand what she said.

"Wow!" Lanie said stunned. "Can I just say… I was not expecting that."

"Me either Lanie. And now I don't know what to do with everything. I'm not this person? I don't fall for people, not like this. What do I do?"

"First, you need to tell me everything. How has this happened without me knowing?"

Kate sighed, then proceeded to tell Lanie about everything that had happened over the past few days. She told her about the night at the cemetery, and how great Rick had been when she told him her mother's story. She mentioned the day at the precinct dealing with Guy, and how he had been so caring and protective without overstepping. She also told her about the evening they had together and what it was like waking up next to him in the morning. She left out the more intimate details of course. Some things were private. And then she told him about their lunchtime conversation and the words he had said. The entire time she spoke, she could not remove the goofy grin from her face.

"Detective Beckett, you've got it bad!" Lanie teased.

"I know. And now, he's ready to go public, but I'm not. I don't really know what I'm afraid of. What if I can't give him what he's ready to give me? What if it doesn't work? I don't want the whole world to know about my love life. I don't want it to be splashed around like it's entertainment. He said he loves me Lanie. He said this was it for him. How could he know so soon?"

"Kate, it's a scary thought to think that someone could care that much, but he does. And yes, the cameras, they make things difficult, but he's done a great job at keeping them away so far, and I'm sure he will continue doing that if it means he gets to keep you. I know I may not have thought so at the beginning, but he's a great guy Kate, he cares about you and he wants to protect you. He loves you. Are you really willing to throw all that away because of a few 'what if's'?"

Kate felt tears start welling in her eyes. She knew Lanie was right. She couldn't throw it all away.

"You say he's at a party tonight, so what are you doing here?" Lanie asked.

"I told you, I was scared."

"Scared of the cameras? Or of allowing yourself to fall in love with the perfect guy? It's time you get off your butt, and get to that party."

"But, I don't have a dress, it's a fundraiser for a charity. I know what these things are like. They are full of high class people who give a whole lot of money to the foundation. I need something nice to wear. There's nothing in my closet."

"Kate, you could turn up in your jeans and I don't think Castle would mind, as long as you're there."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"What if they don't let me in?"

"You know all you need to do is flash your badge their way."

"You know I don't like to do that?"

"But it'll work, so get out of here and get yourself to that party. I'll lock up behind you."

* * *

**Gotta love Lanie!**

**I'm on a writing spree... I don't think I can stop! My only problem is... I'm seriously close to the end of this story. I wonder if I'll get it finished before I need to get to sleep.**


	46. Chapter 46

Castle arrived at the fundraiser with Molly, a busty, blonde, 20 year old wannabe singer. The usual "date" that was arranged by his publicist. He walked arm in arm with her, past the cameras and plastered on a smile, but he wasn't happy. Molly wasn't Kate.

When they made it through the doors he apologized to his set-up date and told her to have fun but, he wanted to be alone.

Molly didn't appear to like his request. She thought Richard Castle was meant to be the life of the party, and she had tried to convince him to have some fun, let loose and dance a little.

When Castle did nothing but walk in the opposite direction of the dance floor and towards the bar with drooping shoulders, she didn't even bother to follow. There were plenty of other people she could dance with.

Rick hadn't seen Molly since the moment they arrived and he walked away from her. He sat at the bar on his own. Occasionally, people would come up and talk to him, but he really wasn't interested. The only person he wanted to talk to wasn't there. He had a drink in front of him, but didn't drink it. He didn't even feel like doing that.

It did fill him with some joy to know that he was going to see Kate after the party but he wished he could have skipped it and gone straight to Kate.

* * *

It wasn't until Kate climbed into a cab that she realised she had absolutely no idea where to find Castle. He hadn't told her where this charity event was, so there was only one thing to do. She gave the driver the loft address and hoped that Martha or Alexis would be home.

She basically run through Castle's building and was thankful for her police training that kept her fit so when Martha answered the door she was actually able to get words out.

"Kate?" Martha said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I need the address Martha. I need to get to that fundraiser. I need to tell your son how I feel and I'm ready to tell the world."

Martha pulled Kate through the door and into the loft.

"I'm so happy you came. Richard is going to be so happy when he sees you," Martha said making her way through the loft to Rick's room.

"He's still here?" Kate called down to her.

"Oh no, he left about an hour ago. Just wait there a minute."

Kate was feeling a little agitated. "I just need the address Martha," she called out when Martha hadn't returned immediately.

"Don't be silly," the older woman said returning with a dress bag in her hand. "You can't go looking like that."

She undid the zipper and pulled out a stunning purple full length silk gown.

"Richard called me yesterday morning, and asked me to organize this dress for you to wear tonight."

"But, I didn't know anything about it yesterday morning."

"I guess he was confident you would say yes when he asked."

"And when I said no, he didn't send it back?" she said with furrowed eyebrows.

Martha grinned. "Then it wouldn't be here for you when you turned up tonight?"

"How did he know I'd change my mind."

"He didn't know, but he hoped you would."

"I don't know what to say Martha. It's beautiful. Thank you."

"Enough words. Go change, you have a party to get to."

Kate gave Martha a quick hug, took the dress and went to change in Rick's room.

The dress was absolutely beautiful. Rick had good taste although she suspected he chose it because of the rather long split up the side showing off her right leg.

She walked back out to Martha with a worried look on her face. The look disappeared though when she saw Alexis holding out a pair of sparkly black heels in her size.

"Didn't think we'd get the dress without getting shoes to go with it, did you?" the younger red head said with a laugh. "You look beautiful Kate."

"Thanks Alexis," she said taking the shoes and slipping them on her feet.

Alexis embraced Kate in her arms. "Good luck. Now go, dad will be waiting."

When Kate got back down to the entrance there was a gentleman waiting for her. "Kate Beckett. I'm Mr Thompson and I will be your personal driver tonight."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, Mr Castle had me on standby, and Mrs Rodgers just called me. Little Castle also gave strict instructions to get you to Mr. Castle as quickly as possible.

Kate laughed. She couldn't help herself. How was this happening?

On the way to the function Kate knew she had to make a quick phone call, but unfortunately it went to voicemail.

"Hi dad, There's something I need to tell you. Richard Castle and I, we're together. I mean, we're dating. This isn't how I wanted to tell you, but I'd prefer you found out like this rather than through pictures in the paper tomorrow. I'll tell you all about it soon. Love you."

She was surprised at how easy it was for her to leave the message, and she started wondering why she was even scared in the first place.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the party. Mr Thompson helped Kate out of the car and walked her to the door. He had promised Martha that he would ensure she got inside.

Kate was not the least bit surprised when her name had been left at the door. She was glad she didn't have to flash her badge to get inside because it was against her morals as an NYPD detective, but she would have done it if she had to.

When she walked in the room, she was surrounded by women in fancy gowns and men in suits, but there was only one man that she was looking for, and he appeared to be all the way on the other side of the room, sitting at the bar on his own.

He didn't look like he was having a good time at all, and Kate wondered what had happened to the date that Paula had arranged.

She watched him carefully as she slowly made her way over to him. He didn't even move an inch. It was almost like he never registered any movement passing by him. His head was down and he sat with a drink in his hand, but the drink never made it to his lips. It saddened Kate as she watched multiple people walk by not even noticing he was there. Or was it that they noticed but could see that he was irresponsive?

Kate made it all the way to him, without him seeing her coming or looking her way. He really was out of it. She stood beside him and held out her hand in front of him.

"Would you like to dance, Mr Castle?"

For the first time, since sitting Castle felt himself move. It was only small movements at first because he thought he was imagining things and wanted to make sure the voice he heard was the voice he'd been waiting to hear all night. He turned his head and saw her feet first, black sparkly shoes. Then his eyes ran up her body to see a purple silk dress, with a slit all the way up the side. His eyes continued to travel upwards until they met hers. Her whole face shined, and her eyes twinkled.

Castle stood up to meet her gaze fully.

"With you? I'll do anything," he said finally.

Kate took his hand and led him onto the dance floor where other couples were slow dancing around them.

Wrapping both her arms behind Ricks neck she pulled him close so her forehead was resting against his. Rick clasped his hands around her back and pulled her body closer.

"Thanks for the dress Rick. I love it," she said softly, swaying to the music.

"You look stunning," he said. "I'm glad it fits."

"Perfectly." She said. "It's like you said, you know me. You know me so well, that you found a dress and shoes for me. You knew to keep the dress at your loft. Even though I said no, you knew I would go there for the address. You know me well enough that you would have a car on standby for your mother to call, and then to have my name at the door for when I arrived. Rick, you know me."

"I do know you Kate, but I did all that hoping you would come. I really wasn't sure if you would actually turn up. But I'm glad you did."

"Me too, Rick. Me too. And I'm sorry I made you wait."

They were so caught up in each other that they hadn't noticed the camera men that were making their way around the dance floor, obviously confused to see Castle now dancing so closely with a different woman than he had arrived with.

"So, what made you change your mind?" Rick asked.

"Would you believe Guy was back at the precinct this morning."

"What?" Rick snapped his head up.

"No, no. It's ok Rick." Kate said, now pulling in closer so they were dancing cheek to cheek. "He wanted to apologize, and then it was just something he said, and I realized what I wanted. I still wasn't going to come, but then Lanie convinced me."

"Remind me to thank her later,"

Kate laughed. "I will, and so here I am." She moved her head slightly and kissed the corner of Rick's mouth gently, but that one small kiss just made her want more. She ignored the flashes of cameras and the screaming from photographers around them and she passionately kissed Rick in the middle of the dance floor. It didn't take Castle long to respond and soon they were both kissing each other fiercely, causing quite a stir.

Eventually they broke apart, and Rick pulled Kate to the edge of the dance floor. "The cameras? You said you weren't ready. Should I go make a very large payment to each of those photographers to get those photos?" he laughed.

"I don't care about the cameras, or the photos Rick. All I care about is you. I have been afraid, and I'm still scared. Scared of what this is, and what it could be, but Rick. You gave me your heart, and now… I'm giving you mine."

* * *

**Is it bad that I almost cried at my own story?! haha I need to find myself a love life! **

**I'm afraid that's it. I didn't plan to go any further than this. Rick won Beckett's heart, and I think it's the perfect place to finish.**

**I'm sorry to all those people following that want me to continue. I think if I did, it would get boring but keep your eyes open incase I start another story. I don't have any ideas for one yet, and I wont start without putting serious thought into it, but you never know :)  
**

**03Truth21 - An epilogue could be possible... but I'll have to think about it :)  
**


	47. Epilogue

**Okay, I figured I've kept you all waiting long enough for an epilogue so here it is. I hope it's what you wanted. The reason I had taken so long to write it was because I really wasn't sure what to write for it. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

As the light shone through the cracks of the blinds Kate rolled over to keep the sun from getting into her eyes and snuggled in closer to the person lying beside her, as she had done every morning since moving in with Rick almost two years ago, and she wrapped her arms around the body.

_"Since when did Rick grow a set of these?" _she thought to herself feeling around the chest she had her arms around.

"Usually, one would have to at least buy me dinner before going anywhere near those things," she heard her friend say.

Kate snapped open her eyes and everything came back to her. She was staying at Lanie's place for the night because today she was getting married to the man of her dreams.

She quickly pulled her arms away from Lanie and hugged them close to her own body. "Sorry Lanie," she said, "I guess I'm used to mornings with Rick and forgot where I was."

Lanie sat up in the bed. "So, are you ready for today?"

"I hope so. You don't think we're rushing things? We only got engaged a few months ago."

"Rushing? Girl, with the speed that your relationship moved in the beginning, I'm surprised it took so long for him to propose. I mean, four years? Seriously? He wrote 4 Nikki Heat books in that time, you would have thought he would have time to propose to the inspiration of those books."

"I know. We wanted things to be right though, nothing holding us back, and we've got that now. You know the day we caught my mothers killer, I knew that there was going to be nothing stopping us from doing anything we wanted to. No walls, no hiding, no secrets. You know what, I am definitely ready."

"So you think it'll be different when you're married? You've been like a married couple for a while now, do you think anything will change?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I just think being married, it's like we're finally telling the world that's it's forever. We've been saying it ourselves since the beginning, but, I think yeah, it'll be different. Did I tell you we've been talking about kids. He wants another. Since becoming a cop, I didn't really think much about having kids, but Rick is so good with them, I can't imagine not having a family with him. So that's definitely going to be a change in my life," Kate smiled while she imagined the life that was ahead for her and unconsciously she placed her hand on her belly and rubbed small circles over it, as if soothing her own stomach.

Lanie didn't fail to notice the small movement Kate had made. "Kate Beckett? Are you pregnant?"

Kate's eyes widened. "What…? No!" she lied but was unable to stop the huge grin from spreading across her face.

Lanie knew immediately that Kate had not been honest so she screamed and wrapped her arms around her friend and hugged her briefly. "Kate? Why didn't you tell me?"

"We only found out a couple of days ago, we were going to wait until after the wedding."

"Oh, this is awesome. I'm so happy for you. Are you happy?"

"Yes Lanie, of course I'm happy. I don't think I could ever be happier."

Lanie wrapped her friend in another giant hug, unable to contain her excitement.

"Right," she said as she pulled away. "Let's get out of bed and get you ready for a wedding."

* * *

Castle was waiting at the front of the church. It had been exactly four years since Kate had given him her heart, and he knew it was the perfect date for a wedding. Yes, it was mid week but, he wanted the day to have a special meaning to it, and this day did. It was the day the world found out about them and now it was going to be the day the world found out the relationship was for always.

"Oh, stop fidgeting Richard," he heard his mother say walking to stand beside him.

"I'm not fidgeting," he said defensively.

"Yes you are."

"I can't help it, I'm nervous and excited and have so many emotions running through my body right now it's not funny. This one is it mother. Third time lucky. This one is the one that will last. How can I not be nervous and excited? I'm here with my closest friends and family, nothing big, not like the others, and it's perfect."

"Richard Castle weds muse in small private ceremony," Martha said. "No, it's not the headlines that you would have been known for previously, but you're right, this is perfect, and Kate is perfect. You've done well, son."

"Thanks," he smiled, as Martha went to take her seat in the front row. "And mother," he quickly stepped down from where he was and stopped Martha before she sat. "I don't tell you this enough but I hope you know that I love you. I know you sometimes think that you haven't been the greatest mom to me, but you have. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be where I am now."

Martha wiped the tear that had escaped and kissed her son on the cheek just as the back doors open. "Better get back to your spot, I think your bride is ready."

Castle went back to stand in his place and watched the open doors waiting for the women to make their way down the aisle.

First through the door was Alexis. She looked beautiful and her smile was beaming. He had been so overjoyed when Kate asked Alexis to be a bridesmaid, probably more excited about it that Alexis was. It meant so much to him that Kate had been accepted into his family and that Kate loved his family even with all the craziness that went on.

Next down the aisle was Lanie, looking radiant. Rick could see she was watching Esposito as she made her way down and he could have sworn she winked at him. He realised all that smiling and glowing from her was probably not due to the excitement and happiness about the wedding between himself and Kate, it probably had more to do with the plans she had with Esposito for the evening.

When Kate walked through the door with her father, Castle was breathless. She was more beautiful than he'd ever known her to be. Dressed in a strapless white dress, which fitted on top and then flowed out at just the right place. It was simple and stunning without being overly dramatic. It was perfect. What stood out more was the smile on Kate's face and the twinkle in her eyes as she looked towards Rick. Her eyes never left his. She didn't look as she walked past and people ooh'ed and ah'ed at her dress. The only person in the room she wanted was Rick and as she made his way to him, looking at him in a way only she had ever looked him, he felt tears begin to fall down his cheeks.

It seemed like it took forever for Kate to reach the front and Rick was almost ready to run down the aisle and pick her up himself to help get her there faster, but he held himself back, not leaving her eyesight for a second. When she finally reached him, Rick watched as her father kissed her cheek and then placed her hand in his.

They both smiled at each other once more and could see the tears that they were trying to hide, then turned to face the minister.

When it came time to say their vows, they had decided to write their own.

Rick was first, and he was now unsure that he was even going to be able to get the words out without being a blubbering mess. He'd never been this bad at his other weddings. This one definitely felt different.

"Katherine Beckett," he started. "Amazing, beautiful, Kate. I fear that there are not enough words to express my love for you, and I'm a writer, I should know," he joked to try and make things easier for himself and he knew it would help Kate when it came to speaking herself. "I can't promise perfection, but I promise I will try. I can't promise that we won't argue, but I can promise that we will always get through it. I can't promise that nothing will ever go wrong, but I promise I'll do everything to make it right again. I will be there for you, to hold you, to love you, to honour you. I will cry with you, celebrate with you and share secrets with you. I trust you with my life and my heart, and I will continue to try my best to be everything you need me to be every day of my life for now, and for always."

When it was Kate's turn to speak, she took a deep breath and swallowed. She struggled with getting any words out at all for a moment. Any time she went to open her mouth, she felt the tears start to fall again.

Castle lifted his hand to her cheek, and wiped away the tears. "I meant everything I said, and if you can't get any words out right now, it's ok. Your smile says everything I need," he said to her softly.

With one more deep breath she whispered back, "I can do this."

"Rick," she closed her eyes briefly while letting another tear fall down her cheek. "I am so thankful for the day that you walked into my life. Back then I didn't expect that you would be the one person who would change my life forever. We have fought battles together, we've won wars, we've solved things that I didn't think we'd solve. You've torn down my walls and made your way into my heart, and I promise I am never going to let anything or anyone build those walls around it again. I love you Richard Castle and I promise to continue to love you for now and forever. You are my always."

There was more she wanted to say, but it was a struggle just to get those words out, and she wasn't sure she would last much longer.

They were both staring again into each others eyes as they placed their rings on each others fingers and as they did they both whispered to each other. "Always"

When the minister finally announced them husband and wife, Rick took Kate in his arms and kissed her not too gently, but without too much force. He wanted it to say everything that his words couldn't, but he also knew there were people watching so he couldn't let it go too far. He dipped Kate backwards for a moment and lifted her up and pulled away as he did. Kate pulled him towards her again and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against his.

"I don't ever want to let you go," she whispered in his ear.

"Well, Mrs. Castle, you don't ever have to."


End file.
